NC legislative leaders named two fracking supporters to the state Oil and Gas Commission late Thursday, after the General Assembly lowered the bar by changing the requirements for these seats with respect to conservationist credentials.
Jim Womack - a former Lee County Commissioner and former Mining and Energy Commissioner - and former state Rep. Mike Stone were named to commission seats that, by law, were to be filled by someone representing a nongovernmental conservation interest. The law was tweaked by the Legislature earlier Thursday as part of the budget technical corrections bill to allow the appointees to be “members” of a nongovernmental conservation interest instead of a “representative.” That change is not yet law.
Both Womack and Stone have been outspoken proponents of fracking in North Carolina. Womack has made a number of extraordinary pro-fracking statements, such as, “You’re more likely to have a meteorite fall from the sky and hit you on the head than you are to contaminate groundwater with fracking fluid percolating up from under the ground. It hasn’t happened.”
In 2014, then-Rep. Stone said, “We want to send a clear message that North Carolina is open for natural gas exploration,” in support of a bill to lift the moratorium on fracking.
Womack was chosen for the Oil and Gas Commission by Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, and Stone by House Speaker Tim Moore. Neither appointment is in the spirit of the law, as the seats were intended for appointees with a conservation background to act as a representative of conservation interests. Womack claimed to be part of the American Council on Science and Health, which media outlets have called an industry front group.
Also during this week’s session, the Senate again declined to confirm two NC Utilities Commission appointments that have awaited action since Governor Cooper announced them on May 1. Cooper called for the reappointment of ToNola Brown-Bland, who has served on the commission since 2009, and a new appointment: Charlotte Mitchell, a highly qualified attorney from Charlotte with expertise in energy regulation.
Molly Diggins, state director of the NC Sierra Club, had the following statement with regard to the appointments:
“Over the past two days, the Legislature has turned somersaults to appoint two pro-fracking candidates to the conservationist seats on the Oil and Gas Commission. At the same time, they appear willing to let two highly qualified appointments to the NC Utility Commission linger indefinitely without cause.”