The North Carolina House approved a bill June 7 that would put fracking on hiatus until March 2015 while simultaneously including several environmental safeguards.

Fracking, also known as hydraulic fracturing, is a controversial process used to extract gas from shale rock deposits. Shale rock formations are underground layered rock formations filled with natural gas, a fossil fuel.

The eastern United States currently has one of the largest shale rock deposits that span multiple states, ranging from Pennsylvania to North Carolina. One of those deposits can be found in a Chatham County in a region known as the Triassic basin–less than an hour from Raleigh.

The fracking process begins with drilling a hole several thousand feet into the ground. The hole is filled with water, sand and chemicals under pressure, forcing the natural gas into a single pocket. A second hole is then drilled to vacuum up the natural gas.

However, in between the ground surface and the shale rock layer is the aquifer, also known as the water table. Since the mixture of water, sand, and chemicals cannot be fully controlled when under pressure, some of it ends up in the aquifer, potentially contaminating drinking water.

The water contamination is a major source of controversy in the fracking process. Critics and environmentalists argue that fracking causes pollution making tap water flammable due to methane leaks–and usually unsafe to drink.

A shale rock formation that extends to Sanford, N.C., less than a one-hour drive from Raleigh known as Triassic Basin, would be targeted for natural gas extraction should the N.C. House and Senate decide to allow fracking.

According to a source cited by Robert Bruck, an environmental science professor at N.C. State, fracking can also affect the water used to irrigate crops. There are about 2,100 farms and 220,000 acres across the state at risk of losing their crops due to fracking—which would not only be a loss of food, but a loss of revenue.

About 2.4 million people may be affected in the piedmont and coastal areas should the bill pass, as mentioned by the press release published by Environment of North Carolina.The bill also includes offshore drilling, which isn’t currently allowed in North Carolina.

Robert Bruck, Ph.D in environmental science, also pointed out some other major issues with fracking.

Bruck said fracking has even caused minor earthquakes in Pennsylvania, Texas and Kentucky. “By injecting all this stuff under pressure, you are actually moving the ground. In other words, we don’t fully understand what we are doing,” he said.

Bruck said the chemicals injected into the ground were also problematic.

“The chemicals can amount up to three percent of the volume of mixture injected,” Bruck said. “These chemicals can get into the drinking ground water. You are basically talking about a liquid waste that is left behind by the fracking process.”

It is currently unclear what chemicals are used during hydraulic fracturing since it is a trade secret, adding to the controversy. Even so, Bruck acknowledged that natural gas was an important part of satisfying the country’s demand for fossil fuels.

“The U.S. needs energy,” Bruck said. “The kind of energy we are talking about is natural gas, which, of the three fossil fuels–coal, oil and gas–is the cleanest,  Bruck said. “On the other hand, it is a fossil a fuel, which means when we burn it for energy, it emits CO2.”

Bruck noted that 14,800 North Carolinians currently worked in the sustainable energy field. According to Department of Environment and Natural Resource, fracking would create an estimated 400 jobs. “Chatham County Schools offer more jobs than fracking will,” Bruck said.

Another estimate by Michael Walden, an economics professor at N.C. State, suggests that during the construction phase of the project, approximately 500 jobs will be created in addition to 80 million of annual income–4.9 million of which would be public revenue.

In the same estimate, during a projected 20 year energy production period, the project would bring in an additional 9.6 million dollars in public annual revenue and sustain another 1,406 jobs.

The fracking bill still faces several obstacles in the General Assembly. First, the N.C. House and Senate must come to a compromise. Currently the Senate version also approves a a lift on the fracking ban starting 2015–but with different environmental safeguards.

Currently, no one is certain how fracking would affect North Carolina.  Bruck said there have been some cases where fracking has had zero environmental impact and others where it has left ground water completely unusable.

“We are in a conundrum, and that is we need energy and we need jobs,” Bruck said. “Fracking is one way to create a certain amount of jobs and energy. However, the process is inherently dangerous of which we don’t know the potential outcome.”