Here's some news to watch closely, especially since Piedmont Natural Gas' corporate headquarters are located right here in Charlotte:

The North Carolina House of Representatives has passed a bill that moves the state a step closer to allowing hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” in the state, where it is now banned. The measure calls for a study – to be completed by  May 1, 2012 – of whether the controversial method of extracting natural gas from shale would be environmentally safe in North Carolina. The state Senate passed a larger energy bill last month that calls for a similar study.

Fracking blasts water, sand and hazardous chemicals into the ground at high pressure to crack open shale and extract natural gas. It can contaminate ground water, deplete water supplies, lead to flammable faucet water and leave polluted waste water in its wake. Last month in Pennsylvania a fracking well exploded, spewing thousands of gallons of chemical-laden liquid into a creek.

Supporters of fracking say the natural gas industry has done a poor job of explaining natural gas exploration and that environmentalists have engaged in fear mongering. They say the risks have been exaggerated and are outweighed by the benefits. Fracking provides a domestic source of energy that is cheaper than oil and cleaner than natural gas. Fracking can be safely regulated, they say.

Environmentalists disagree that the benefits outweigh the risks.

“We’re concerned about toxic air releases, drinking water contamination and contaminated ground water supplies for tens of thousands of folks depending on private wells” in the area where fracking is being considered, Hope Taylor, director of Clean Water for North Carolina, said. “These folks could suddenly find themselves faced with the kind of well contamination that has been reported many times in several states –

natural gas at high enough concentrations to be lit at the tap or even explosive.”

Read the entire article DCBureau.org, by Rose Ellen O'Connor, here, and find out what a Duke University study concluded about fracking.

Further reading:

The shale gas boom: Energy exploration in Carolina -- The Fayetteville Observer

Natural gas rights going fast in Lee County -- Raleigh News & Observer

The Sanford Herald actually ran a three-part series on the issue, which you can read here.

And, here's a video from that series (you may have to pause it to read the text):