LOD: Fractured Ethics

The NC General Assembly created a new commission to develop the rules for how hydraulic drilling of natural gas (fracking) can proceed in North Carolina and it gave most the seats to the mining and energy industry. That’s bad enough, but it turns out Speaker Thom Tillis filled a seat reserved for an environmentalist with a Lee County man whose company is buying up mineral rights for exploration. A revealing video investigation by WRAL-TV captures just how sneaky the whole affair is – the investigative report begins less than a minute into a half-hour show on ethical conflicts at the new NC Mining and Energy Commission. The fracking industry has a disturbing record of being ethically challenged.