Alex Halperin discusses his Sidney winning story about the perils of natural gas drilling.

1.Why did you decide to look into natural gas drilling?

I like stories where environmental ideals bump into economic realities. Initially I wanted to learn more about how fracking [hydraulic fracturing] would affect New York City's water supply, which turned out not to be a big part of the piece. When I started talking to people who'd leased their land for thousands of dollars and still felt ripped off it was pretty clear there was a good story.

2. What surprised you as you did your research?

I was surprised by how divided opinion is. New Yorkers are looking at the drilling situation in Pennsylvania and drawing wildly different conclusions. Some people see an environmental disaster while others perceive an economic miracle. This sounds like a familiar story. But as Sarah Laskow shows in her terrific companion piece An Unnatural Alliance, natural gas, as an abundant and clean burning fossil fuel, is attractive to many pragmatic liberals. Like most of reality, elements of the natural gas story don't fit the usual red state/blue state narrative.

3. Is there something you wish you had room to include in the piece but could not?

I'd go deeper into the differences between the contracts signed by individual lessors and those signed by members of landowner coalitions. Bruce Murray sat down at his kitchen table and thought of a few things he'd like the gas companies to do. The landowner coalitions have produced heavily-lawyered, incredibly detailed contracts with more environmental protections and even a more favorable way to quantify the amount of gas produced. Despite the environmental degradation it's very hard to tell someone not to lease their land for $5,500 per acre plus 20% royalties. They're taking a calculated risk in tough times. But it's important to stress that these companies have more information and more resources than the lessors. They drive a hard bargain whether or not a potential lessor is prepared.

 4. If you went back to this story in another year, what would you want to follow-up on?

Most people think fracking is inevitable. I'd love to follow up a few months after it began.