RALEIGH, N.C. – A visit to Pennsylvania shows that a

200-million-year-old shale deposit of natural gas in North Carolina

could fuel lawsuits and divisions even as it is helping the

economy.

RALEIGH, N.C. – A visit to Pennsylvania shows that a 200-million-year-old shale deposit of natural gas in North Carolina could fuel lawsuits and divisions even as it is helping the economy.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reported Sunday (http://bit.ly/s9hbe9 ) that North Carolina officials recently visited rural southwestern Pennsylvania to learn about its experience with gas exploration.

North Carolina is in the beginning stages of exploring. The Legislature passed a law this year to study what’s called “fracking,” which uses water and chemicals underground to release natural gas trapped in shale. Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing is currently not allowed in the state.

Geologists have identified promising deposits of natural gas in North Carolina. Some of the most promising territory for drillers involves likely gas-trapping shale at depths of less than 3,000 feet near Sanford in Lee and Chatham counties.

“Think about what it delivers: Long-term economic growth and prosperity,” said Sen. Bob Rucho, a Mecklenburg County Republican who spent several days touring drill sites in Pennsylvania with fellow Republican Rep. Mike Hager. “This is energy independence and economic independence.”

But fracking has generated years of debate on the Marcellus Shale, the nation’s largest known natural gas reservoir beneath Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia and Ohio. More than 3,000 wells have been drilled in the last three years and thousands more are planned.

The industry has created more than 200,000 jobs in Pennsylvania alone, including pumpers, drillers, truckers and pipe layers, according to state labor data. But the drilling has drawn opponents who fear it is polluting public water supplies, damaging public health and ruining the quality of life in rural communities.

In Pennsylvania, rural homesteads host lucrative wellheads and storage tanks, while less-lucky neighbors switch to potable water trucked in to refill 550-gallon tanks after the family well goes bad and has to be sealed.

“North Carolina, watch your step and look out,” retiree Paul Parker of Hopewell Township, Pa., told the newspaper. “It turns neighbor against neighbor. A lot of friendships we had out here are lost because of the greed of the dollar.”

He has refused to sell underground gas rights to his 7 acres, barring gas companies from drilling under his land. He estimates passing up on up to $100,000 in signing bonuses and royalties.

“Doing business with the gas company is like doing business with the devil,” he said.

However, his neighbors Bill and Sheila Black expect to be paid more than $1 million a year in gas royalties after the eight wells on 10 acres of their farm begin producing. The retirees praise the industry as saving family farms, paying college tuition and ensuring comfortable retirements.

“A lot of these dairy farms we have here were running almost two years in arrears in paying their bills,” Bill Black said. “Now I could show you new tractors, new storage sheds. The struggling farmer now holds his head up high. Not a one of them has had an issue with contaminated water.”

He acknowledges some concern about water quality, but says drilling for natural gas is much less invasive than mining for coal by blowing up mountain tops and risking miners’ lives and polluting the atmosphere.

Hydraulic fracturing on his land began last week and is expected to continue for several more. It took crews two years to clear the land, drill the wells and remove the sludge.

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Kevin Sunday said the industry comes with risks, but the problems represent a very small percentage of the activity.

“It also represents a tremendous economic opportunity for the state,” he said.

In North Carolina, the amount of natural gas trapped in the Cumnock Formation is an estimate. A more exact figure from the U.S. Geological Survey may not be released until next year. Still, independent gas companies already have signed decades-long leases in Lee County covering more than 9,000 acres, according to public records.

The companies are paying several dollars an acre for the North Carolina land leases. That compares to leases starting at $5 an acre in Pennsylvania around 2005. The peak there was nearly $6,000 an acre before leveling out at about $2,500. But the big money will come in royalties, if the wells produce.

Some land owners became opponents after they signed leases but the wells didn’t produce, leaving access roads and well pads and little money in return.

• Kelvin Chan, Associated Press