(RALEIGH) -- A state legislator who supports fracking said North Carolina should take time to create the right regulations before it considers lifting a ban on the controversial process. Deposits of natural gas in Lee, Harnett and Chatham Counties are believed to hold a forty year supply of North Carolina's needs.

State representative Mitch Gillespie said gas companies need to know the ground rules before they do business here. "The gas companies themselves, they tell me, they want to know what the rules are.  They don't want us changing the rules midway through.  They would rather know right straight up front what our rules and regulations are," said Gillespie.

He added that North Carolina's mining laws date back to 1945 and need to be updated before we allow fracking to take place here.