I have recently fell upon an article about this, and me being kind of a info nerd, i read it. It said that NY is actually about to sign the permits, telling me that they are almost sure they are gonna do it. The gas is very very very hard to extract and is around 7,000 feet deep into the earth. To me it is not worth it because the gas to water hit ratio is lop sided, it is way easier to hit the water than to successfully extract the gas' they will be drilling for. And to reply to some of the peoples money making ideas out of this, Does it really matter how much money we make from this, may i direct you to this website? http://www.usdebtclock.org/
The United States will never make a profit, because of the power hungry leaders we have appointed. Yes, we have seen some up sides with Obama (i haven't) and his Health Care reform, but the US debt is amazingly predictable at this point, by that i mean, will always plummet. People who can afford Health Care should get it, and the ones who can't... well i have a solution for you.
Now back to the subject being discussed into this thread. Waste of time in my opinion :). If the US wants money, which i assume is what they are trying to pursue through this, they should invest in non-hybrid seeds, which will one day be worth more than gold and silver.