Listen to some of the candidates on the campaign trail these days and you would think that North Carolina’s economic problems can be completely solved right away if state officials would simply hurry up and let energy companies start drilling for natural gas in underground rock formations.

The highly controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, was approved by the General Assembly this summer when lawmakers managed to override Gov. Beverly Perdue’s veto of legislation legalizing the practice in one of the most bizarre episodes in the Legislative Building in years.

One Democratic legislator who signed a letter urging Perdue to veto the fracking bill ended up voting to override the veto after legislative leaders hurriedly added a tax credit for the film industry that the lawmaker supported.

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