Shale gas is considered by many to be a clean domestic energy source – one that could potentially satisfy the U.S. demand for energy for more than a decade.

Much of western New York State sits on top of a vast geological formation called the Marcellus Shale – and the race is on to tap into it.

But environmentalists and people living near proposed drilling sites worry that the drilling process might contaminate ground water.

That process, known as hydraulic fracturing, involves pumping several million gallons of water per well, along with sand and diluted chemicals, into the shale formation under high pressure.

The rock will eventually crack, releasing the trapped gas.

David Spigelmyer of the Chesapeake Energy Corporation says he and his company are trying to demystify this issue of hydraulic fracturing.

[David Spigelmyer, V.P. Chesapeake Energy Corporation]:
“...It's a safe process. It's a closed-loop process that we use to fracture the rock, bring the natural gas to the surface and do it in an environmentally responsible fashion."

Not everyone, however, is convinced that the process is “environmentally responsible."

[James Simpson, Staff Attorney, Riverkeeper Environmental Group]:
"Overall there's a lack of real understanding of, in terms of the overall process, the overall impacts that are ... that will accompany any drilling that will happen.  This starts from the trucks that are necessary to haul in water to supply the hydraulic fracturing process, the trucks that are necessary to haul out the waste water.  There's the water that is used in the process itself.  It has to come from somewhere."

And new York City has urged a ban on drilling in its upstate watershed, an unfiltered system that serves 9 million people and accounts for 6 percent of the Marcellus Shale area in New York state.

[James Simpson, Staff Attorney, Riverkeeper Environmental Group]:
"We think the state needs to identify certain areas where drilling is just unacceptable.  The risks and the threats are too great to justify any drilling in certain highly sensitive environmental areas."

Marc Dunau, an organic farmer in Hancock, located 150 miles northwest of New York City, refuses to sign a lease to drill on his 50-acre farm.

[Marc Dunau, Organic Farmer]:
"You know there are people that said: my land, my gas, and they...go, go, go.  And you know, it is your land it is your gas but it's my water and it's my air and you can't get that gas unless my land, my water and my air is protected."

The possible financial benefits of drilling in hard economic times are difficult to ignore. 

[Bryan La Tournette, Landowner, Head of Oxford Land Group]:
"New York State in itself is very difficult to do business and it's more difficult in our area here being further away from things.  We stand on the edge of something here, when done correctly, that can change our area that can to help us pay our taxes, keep our land in our family."

The key concern in this issue seems to be how to ensure that the gas extraction is “done correctly.”

The U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee is investigating potential health and environmental impacts from hydraulic fracturing.

But for now, drilling is at a standstill in New York.