The state’s one-year moratorium on fracking expired Thursday.

But even though New Jersey doesn’t have large, rich pockets of natural gas, environmentalists continue to warn that the controversial process could eventually come to the Garden State.

“We’ve seen what shale gas drilling has in store for our environment and our communities,” said Megan Fitzpatrick, the clean water associate for Environment New Jersey. “We need to take heed of the hard lessons learned by other states and keep shale gas drilling out of New Jersey.”

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is the process of pumping water and chemicals deep underground to harvest natural gas. It’s now widely used to extract the valuable gas in the Marcellus Shale, an underground rock formation that stretches through the Midwest into Pennsylvania – but which stops just short of the New Jersey border.

Environmental advocates have fought the practice, claiming that fracking creates water contamination, and they point to drilling accidents in Pennsylvania and the Midwest, as well as studies showing elevated levels of chemicals downstream from treatment plants, and elevated levels of methane in drinking water sources.

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Industry groups like the Marcellus Shale Coalition argue the process is completely safe, because controls are strictly enforced, and the process has been refined over more than half a century. They also say the natural gas sources are a boon for United States energy needs.

The Environmental Protection Agency has yet to release its findings on the safety of the drilling practice, but their investigation is underway.

In New Jersey there have been no applications filed or other interest from gas companies so far, said Larry Hajna, spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

New Jersey environmentalists say they are concerned that small deposits of natural gas within the Garden State may eventually attract energy companies. Opponents have also fought against drilling upstream in the Delaware River basin. Currently, drilling in that basin is prohibited, because the Delaware River Basin Commission has not yet voted on proposed regulations in its territory. Fracking has been banned in New York state since 2008, but officials there are preparing a report evaluating the safety of the practice.

The administration of Gov. Chris Christie will soon make an announcement on fracking as it relates to New Jersey, said Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for the governor. However, he pointed out that New Jersey’s potential deposits of natural gas are strictly limited compared to Pennsylvania and other states to the west.

A bill is currently pending in the Legislature which would extend the moratorium – but that bill is still in an Assembly committee, officials say.

Environmentalists have also pushed for a ban on accepting wastewater from the fracking process. Though legislators passed a bill to ban the acceptance of out-of-state wastewater last year, Gov. Chris Christie vetoed it in September.

At least three sites in New Jersey have accepted fracking waste, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

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Previous coverage:

State assemblyman introduces fracking ban extension bill

Concerns for N.J. water as Del. River eyed for 'fracking'