To protect the environment from shale gas drilling, panel urges voluntary actions

An Obama administration advisory committee has called on shale gas producers to disclose to the public more information about their operations and to adopt industry-wide best practices to protect the environment. In its report , approved on 11 August, the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB) also recommended that additional funding be provided for R&D on the environmental and safety concerns that have cropped up as a result of the rapid expansion of the shale gas industry.

John Deutch, an MIT chemistry professor and former CIA director who chaired the SEAB subcommittee that wrote the report, said that ‘a double handful’ of its recommendations could be implemented right away, but that others will take longer. The subcommittee, which produced its report within the 90-day timetable specified by the White House, intends to propose a timetable for implementation in a second report, which will be completed in November, said Deutch.

Shale gas production has increased enormously in recent years, from just 2% of total US natural gas output in 2001 to nearly 30% today. Production has quadrupled since 2008. The Energy Information Agency forecasts that growth will continue, with shale gas reaching 45% of US gas production in 2045.

But public concern over the environmental impacts of shale gas production has risen along with that growth, particularly as regards the hydraulic fracturing process frequently used by drillers to release the natural gas from shale. Much of the growth has been in areas such as the Northeast, where gas drilling and production were not widespread until recently. Environmental organizations and some residents near the drilling sites worry that the drilling and fracturing operations will contaminate drinking water aquifers, although the industry insists that its practices have ensured that drinking water supplies are not contaminated.

The report calls for a number of steps to be taken by producers to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants from producing operations. It recommends that the gas industry and federal government jointly undertake a research project designed to establish the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions footprint of natural gas production, whether from shale or conventional formations, relative to other forms of electricity generation. The committee acknowledged that the study will be expensive, but noted that producers will bear much of the cost.

Shale gas producers should reduce methane emissions at drilling pads and, as soon as feasible, replace diesel-powered equipment with equipment that uses cleaner energy, such as electricity or natural gas. The committee urged state regulators to require drillers to disclose the chemicals they use in hydraulic fracturing operations, a procedure which many states, including Texas, have already mandated. The use of diesel fuel in fracturing fluids should be banned.

Recommendations, not regulations

The committee said it was not within its purview to determine whether the current regulatory regime for shale gas production is appropriate. It urged the industry to form an organization devoted to making continuous improvements in best operating practices at drilling sites. That organization should focus on reducing air pollution, minimizing water use, and preventing water leakage during hydraulic fracturing operations.

Representative Diana DeGette (D-Colorado), a leading critic of shale gas drilling, welcomed the report, saying its recommendations ‘strongly support the common-sense regulations’ set forth in a bill she introduced in March. In a statement, DeGette particularly praised the recommendations for best practices, public disclosure, and the diesel fuel ban.

‘Taken together, these fact-based recommendations represent yet another key step toward ensuring that common sense policies must be in place to ensure that American natural gas development continues to be balanced with the proper environmental safeguards,’ said Kathryn Klaber, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an organization comprising companies that are exploiting shale gas located in the Marcellus formation, which underlies parts of Pennsylvania, New York, and other states in the Northeast.

But during a 15 August teleconference called to formally approve the draft report, Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, urged fellow SEAB members to prepare an action plan for ensuring the implementation of the recommendations. She noted that although the report will be transmitted to Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, it was President Obama who requested the report.

Other members of the subcommittee include Daniel Yergin, renowned petroleum industry analyst and author; Susan Tierney, former assistant secretary for DOE; Kathleen McGinty, former chair of the Council on Environmental Quality; Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund; Stephen Holditch, professor of petroleum engineering at Texas A&M University; and Mark Zoback, professor of geophysics at Stanford University.