NEWS

Fracking figures into WNC Senate race

Jon Ostendorff

WAYNESVILLE – A controversial natural gas extraction process that might never be used in Western North Carolina is becoming a big part of a mountain Senate race.

Democrat Jane Hipps of Waynesville has blasted incumbent Republican Sen. Jim Davis of Franklin for his support of hydraulic fracturing, also called fracking.

They are running in state Senate District 50, which is comprised of the state's seven westernmost counties.

Fracking uses water and chemicals to mine natural gas. Critics say it can pollute ground water. Supporters say it is safe in some cases.

Hipps handed out water bottles at the Canton Labor Day parade with lables that said voters deserve good schools and clean drinking water.

The state has dropped plans to test for shale gas deposits in the mountains for now.

"He has nothing to be proud of," Hipps said of Davis' vote for fracking. "This doesn't need to be here."

Davis disagrees.

"I am honored to make that vote," he said.

Educator turned politician

Hipps said she decided to run for Senate because of her years in public schools. Before she left the field, North Carolina's schools were highly regarded, she said.

She's the wife of the late District Attorney Charles Hipps, who was also a state Senator.

"This legislature has had no respect for (education)," she said. "They have eroded education. They don't have any foresight to look at what our future is going to be without education."

Hipps debated Davis on Thursday at Western Carolina University. She feels like she won.

Hipps says there is a "vast difference between us."

She said she is learning that people in the district are suffering. The poverty rate is 25 percent and children are going hungry, she said.

She said the government is trying to put help for poverty on the backs of churches and civic organizations and "it's too big."

This legislature has pulled a "reverse Robin Hood," she said, and cut taxes on the rich and corporations while raising them for the poor and middle class.

Hipps blasted Davis for his vote allowing fracking in the state. Much of the work would happen in eastern North Carolina where shale gas deposits are more plentiful.

The state had funded a preliminary study to determine whether fracking in seven of the state's westernmost counties would be feasible but an official recently said it is setting that aside for 2014-15.

A private company could still conduct testing at the request of a landowner.

Hipps said reports out of Colorado are showing some women living near fracking sites are having babies with heart defects.

She also noted the state committee on fracking has no members with a background in health care and is stacked by the mining industry.

"This is crazy," she said. "Absolutely insane."

Davis shoots for third term

Davis said more research is showing fracking can be done safely.

Duke University, he said, has a new study that says the real problem is well casings not the fracking method.

"I am very comfortable with that so long as we can do it safely," he said. "If we can add tens of thousands of jobs it participate in this energy sector and also participate in North Carolina and the United States being energy independent then I think that is a great thing."

He said he would be comfortable with fracking in his district under the state regulations as they are written. The regulations keep secret the chemicals companies would pump into the ground.

"If I had land that natural gas was on and they wanted to give me tens of thousands of dollars every month to do that, then I would be all for it," he said.

Davis, an orthodontist from Franklin, took office in 2010 after defeating then-Democratic Sen. John Snow in a campaign marked by negative advertising.

Some of the ads were paid for by an outside group tied to Republican businessman Art Pope, who became budget director under Republican Gov. Pat McCrory.

"I'm working hard and running on my record. I'm very proud of it," he said.

He said his record includes getting the state's "fiscal house in order" with bills that included a measure to get $12 million in state funds for the paper mill in Canton.

The mill needed the help to pay for new gas-fired boilers required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The mill is worth $250 million a year to the state's economy, Davis said, with about 1,200 workers.

He wants to see more spent on recruiting and keeping jobs in the state.

Republicans in the House at the end of the session this summer shot down a move to give more economic incentive money to the state Department of Commerce, calling it corporate welfare.

Davis disagrees. He doesn't like incentives but says "unless you have those you are not in the ball game."

He noted a company that recently took more than 1,000 jobs out of North Carolina near Charlotte just over the line into South Carolina for better incentives.

"It is kind of the nature of the beast," he said. "It's not my preference but it's the way the game is played now."

Davis said the state needs to do more on education spending.

But, he said, lawmakers have increased state education spending by more than a billion dollars since he has been in the General Assembly.

Medicaid has increased more than $2 billion, he said.

He said he "struggles" with the criticisms on education spending after voting for the largest teacher pay raises in recent history.

Some said the raises were not fair.

In Buncombe County, the because the biggest pay increase went to those with five or six years of experience. More veteran teachers received smaller increases.

Will fracking resonate?

Political analyst Michael Bitzer at Catawba College said fears over fracking are great for mobilizing the Democratic base.

"My general philosophy is if you can present an issue that raises the ire of, or threatens your supporters, then that's always a good thing because that energies and mobilizes," Bitzer said.

A public hearing on the issue in September at Western Carolina University, which is in Senate District 50, attracted a large crowd mostly against fracking.

Speakers said a proposed 650-foot setback proposed between fracking wells and homes would not be enough, that the rules do not require enough groundwater testing before and after fracking and prohibitions on disclosure of what chemicals a company uses to frack — based on mandates in state law — risk the public health. Others objected to allowing fracking beneath property even if its owners object.

The environment is not a big part of the campaign season statewide, Bitzer said. The economy and education, and President Obama, still are the main issues.

But, he said, environmentalism could help in local races more than in statewide or Congressional races.

The way it can really work, he said, is to localize the issue.

"You've got to connect it to the voter," he said. "It's almost connect the dots in terms of Senator Davis voted for fracking, fracking has the potential to do environmental harm, fracking could occur here ergo we could be harmed. You got to lead the voter along those dots to really make the impact."

It's not a hard sell for Democrats, he said.

But the question in rural districts, like the one Hipps is running in, is who are the Democrats, Bitzer said.

Much will hinge on whether they are modern Democrats or old-time Democrats who vote Republican but don't want to change their party affiliation, he said.

Chris Cooper, a political scientist at Western Carolina University, said the debate at WCU on Thursday brought out strong contrasts between the two candidates.

He said most people were there supporting Hipps.

That, alone, is not a strong predictor of her changes of success. The district is conservative-leaning at least in presidential elections.

Cooper said fracking, as a local issue, could become one of the biggest issues of the race.

"I haven't seen any reliable public opinion polls about fracking in this district, but if the yard signs are any indication, it might end up being the most salient issue in this election," he said. "Davis has been clear that not only did he sponsor the legislation, but he is proud of that fact, leaving the voters to make the decision about which side of the fracking debate they stand on. I can think of few issues in this election, or any other, that have as many clear dividing lines as this one."