Judge blocks North Carolina from issuing fracking permits

RALEIGH, N.C. (Reuters) - A North Carolina commission tasked with issuing the state's first permits for hydraulic fracturing must put its work on pause until a lawsuit challenging the makeup of its membership is resolved, an environmental law group said on Wednesday.

An order issued by Judge Donald Stephens of Wake County Superior Court on May 6 "effectively reinstates" a state moratorium on the method of shale gas exploration known as fracking, said the Southern Environmental Law Center in a statement.

The state's Republican-led legislature last year lifted North Carolina's longtime ban on fracking, in which rock formations are cracked and infused with chemical-laced water to extract natural gas, and the Mining and Energy Commission was set to begin issuing drilling permits.

But Stephens has ordered it to not accept or approve any permits until legal questions about the formation of state commissions are settled.

Under state law, the governor appoints five members to the commission and the legislature eight. The law center, a nonprofit advocacy group also active in Virginia, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama, has sued, saying that violates the state constitution's separation of powers.

Governor Pat McCrory, a Republican, has filed a separate lawsuit against state lawmakers that challenges whether the legislature has the authority to appoint the majority of members to such commissions. That suit is pending in the North Carolina Supreme Court.

Fracking critics hope the delay will allow a more complete airing of concerns over a practice that has caused controversy nationwide.

?This questions the establishment of a commission that wrote rules that are inadequate to protect the water, the environment and the adjoining property owners,? said Derb Carter, an attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center.

?We are seeing emerging and increasing opposition to fracking in North Carolina, and this will allow the public in many ways to continue to voice their concerns.?

(Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Lisa Lambert)

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