(RALEIGH) -- State Sen. Bob Rucho recently returned from a taxpayer-funded trip to Pennsylvania's shale gas drilling region.  The focus of the trip was to look at so-called fracking, the process used to extract natural gas from shale rock.

Rucho said he and other lawmakers were looking for several things. "One, look at what the best industry practices were as far as shale gas drilling and the fracturing process and to see if it could be done efficiently and safely.  The company that we visited demonstrated a lot of proper due diligence in making sure that what they were doing was in the best interest of the state and the land owners," said Rucho.

A study on the impact of natural gas drilling in North Carolina is due out next May. Rucho said drilling for natural gas in North Carolina would bring jobs to areas that need them.