"Rush to Drill for Natural Gas Creates Conflicts With Mortgages"

As the natural gas drilling boom based on "fracking" has spread across the U.S. from Texas to New York, ordinary householders have signed more than a million leases allowing companies to drill on their land. But bankers and real estate executives are now starting to ask what happens if they lend money for a piece of land that ends up storing huge amounts of toxic drilling wastewater.

Ian Urbina reports for the New York Times October 19, 2011.