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Despite concerns voiced by the environmental community, President Barack Obama says drilling for natural gas under rock formations by a method known as “hydraulic fracturing” can be done safely.

“It was like, finally!" said Rayola Dougher, American Petroleum Institute Economic Advisor.

It's a nod the oil and gas industry says is long overdue, but they say the benefits of a presidential endorsement has its downside.

"He's saying all the right things, but on the other hand, we say, now wait a minute, there are eight different federal agencies right now looking at new rules and regulations," said Dougher. “You make it very, very difficult to operate in these states. One size does not fit all,

The president has directed the Department of Interior to develop a disclosure rule for companies looking to frack on public lands. A White House official says it’s an area where the administration can show leadership.

The Environmental Protection Agency is studying the effects of fracking on water, and the Department of Energy is currently compiling a scientific report on the safest drilling techniques. They say it’s not to bog states down, but to help.

"Our job is to make sure that we're bringing some scientific rigor and some scientific focus to that,” said Chris Smith, Department of Energy Deputy Assistant Secretary for Oil and Gas. “The resources that we have here really have the potential to do things that are really useful to state level regulators."

Those concerned about the public health and environmental effects of fracking want the administration to be aggressive in its scrutiny.

"It absolutely has to be done with the greatest bit of science applied," said New York State Representative Paul Tonko.

It's a debate that continually grows more contentious.

Just this week, the director of a well-known documentary that warns of the dangers of hydofracking was arrested after refusing to leave a GOP-led congressional hearing on the issue.

The Obama administration, meanwhile, finds itself in the middle, trying to balance protection of public health and the environment, with the demand for job creation in a struggling economy.

"We've got this great natural resource, potential for creating up to 600,000 new jobs here in the U.S., over a hundred years of supply, potentially,” said Smith, “but something we have to get right from an environmental standpoint, from a safety standpoint."