Help me please . DARCY: Natural gas has many benefits.

BURNETT: Yes. It is cheap, efficient, and compared to other fossil fuels, very clean.

DARCY: Is there enough of it for our needs?

BURNETT: We didn't use to think so, but technologies have improved ... we now know that the United States is sitting on a virtual sea of natural gas. More gas than Saudi Arabia has oil.

DARCY: Wow ... and this gas is just sitting there beneath the ground? How so? How far down?

BURNETT: It is fossilized, essentially. Trapped in a type of rock called shale. It can be found anywhere from 1.5 to 2.5 miles underground.

DARCY: That's a long way down. How is the gas collected? BURNETT: [NODS] A process called Hydraulic Fracturing.

VOICEOVER: HE EXPLAINS HOW A WELL IS DRILLED, THEN PUMPED WITH MILLIONS OF GALLONS OF WATER MIXED WITH SAND AND CHEMICALS. THIS MIXTURE BREAKS DOWN THE SHALE AND FREES THE TRAPPED GAS, WHICH THEN RISES TO THE SURFACE.

DARCY: Is it dangerous, Mr. Burnett?

BURNETT: Natural gas is a completely safe source of energy ... the cleanest-­burning fossil fuel there is.

DARCY: Not the energy—the method of extraction. All those chemicals being pumped into the ground?

BURNETT: [EXHALES] Our dependence on foreign oil is what's dangerous. My company created over 40,000 American jobs last year alone. We will double that next year. No other industry can match that. Natural gas will get us off foreign oil—AND pull us out of the current economic crisis.

DARCY: But is hydraulic fracturing safe?

BURNETT: [CLEARS THROAT] It's a method that's been in use for 60 years.

VOICEOVER: OR HAS IT? TOM POST, LEAD INVESTIGATIVE ATTORNEY FOR THE NATIVE PRESERVATION SOCIETY, DISAGREES. IN HIS OFFICE IN RAINY DOWNTOWN SEATTLE, FOUR-­FOOT SNOWDRIFTS OF DOCUMENTS AND FILES LINE THE PERIMETER OF HIS DESK. I NOTICE WELL­-WORN HIKING BOOTS PEEKING OUT FROM UNDER HIS TWEED SUIT.

POST: Natural gas wells used to be drilled straight down—like any water well. Now they reach a certain depth, turn the drill, and go horizontally, to get at more of the shale bed. This exposes exponentially more of the water table to the hazardous chemicals being pumped into the well.

DARCY: You claim these chemicals are hazardous?

POST: They are volatile organic compounds, neural toxins. We only know a fraction of what goes into the ground.

DARCY: You don't know what goes into the ground? Who does know? The Environmental Protection Agency?

POST: No, no one knows. Except Jim Burnett and others like him.

VOICEOVER: THAT'S RIGHT—THANKS TO A LOOPHOLE IN THE SAFE DRINKING WATER ACT, THE NATURAL GAS INDUSTRY DOES NOT HAVE TO DISCLOSE THEIR SECRET CHEMICAL RECIPES. AS A RESULT, NO ONE CAN PROVE THEIR ACTIVITIES HAVE ANY ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT.

DARCY: You believe hydraulic fracturing is responsible for...?

POST: Large-­scale groundwater contamination. Last year a herd of deer drank water from a creek near a natural gas well. They were found. [PAUSES] They died a horrendous death. And there's Dowlersburg, West Virginia. Five years ago, IPT offered its residents $25,000 an acre to allow drilling on their property. Their tap water is undrinkable now. Those who showered in it reported severe eye irritation, skin rashes, and lesions.

DARCY: You admit you don't know what's being pumped into the ground. How can you prove there is a connection?

POST: [NODDING] Indeed, IPT has admitted no wrongdoing. But now they're trucking in clean water to Dowlersburg. If they weren't culpable, why would they do that? These are poor, hard­working people who were offered more money than they could hope to earn in a lifetime. Who wouldn't have taken it?

DARCY: And now their homes are biohazards; their water supply is poisonous.

POST: Yes.

VOICEOVER: JIM BURNETT ADMITS ACCIDENTS DO HAPPEN. BUT HE MAINTAINS THAT SUCH INCIDENTS ARE UNRELATED TO HYDRAULIC FRACTURING.

BURNETT: No ... no industry can completely guard against human error. In the case of Dowlersburg, there was a small spill at the surface—look—[LAUGHTER] tap water is drawn from aquifers 1,000 feet down. What we do takes place at 8,000 feet and 12,000 feet. There is no way our activities are related to tap water contamination.

DARCY: But you're hauling clean water into Dowlersburg at your own expense. Why? If you're not responsible for the toxicity of their drinking water—

BURNETT: [RAISES VOICE] We are not responsible. And you couldn't prove it if we were.

VOICEOVER: IF THE BURDEN OF PROOF IS ON TOM POST AND HIS COLLEAGUES, THEY MAY SOON TURN THE TABLES. THE NATIVE PRESERVATION SOCIETY IS BUILDING A CASE AGAINST INNOVATIVE POWER TECHNOLOGY. THEY HOPE TO BRING A BILL TO CAPITOL HILL THIS YEAR THAT WILL STOP ALL HYDRAULIC FRACTURING UNTIL A STUDY OF ITS ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT CAN BE COMPLETED. LET'S HOPE THE PEOPLE