ABSTRACT

Geologists have long been aware that shale formations often held large amounts of oil and gas. But because the shale rock lacked the permeability of other traditional oil and gas reservoirs, it was not cost-effective to produce oil and gas from those formations. About 20 years ago, producers in the Barnett Shale region of Texas experimented with combining two proven technologies (hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling) to produce natural gas from shale in a cost-effective way. Once the combination of technologies was shown to work well, other companies transferred the same technologies to many other shale plays around the country. The closest large shale play to Goddard is the massive Marcellus Shale formation that underlies much of Pennsylvania and parts of West Virginia, Ohio, New York, and Maryland. Production began about 2005 – ten years later, Pennsylvania is one of the largest gas producing states in the country because of Marcellus production. This is a direct result of the use of hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking” as the media and opponents like to say).

The Shale Revolution has taken place in some traditional oil and gas areas, but often has moved into regions that have not had recent exposure to the industry. Hydraulic fracturing, which has been used since the 1940s to stimulate and prepare more than one million wells, was pretty much unknown to the public until about 2005. But as hydraulic fracturing moved into new areas, oil and gas opponents and the media stirred up a great deal of controversy about the practice. It has been described as a horrible scourge that will ruin the environment and harm public health through contamination of drinking water, air emissions, and other impacts. No form of energy is risk-free. Oil and gas production using hydraulic fracturing has had some isolated impacts, but it has had major positive impacts on U.S. energy production and reducing our reliance on imports. Consumers have enjoyed lower gasoline and heating bills during the last year – these are directly related to abundant domestic production.

This seminar will describe the size and scope of the U.S. oil and gas industry, and what impact oil and gas production using hydraulic fracturing has made on domestic and international energy supply. I will give some history on hydraulic fracturing and explain what the technology is and also what it is not. There is a great deal of misinformation about fracturing and its impacts on the environment and on society -- I will list some of the media concerns and offer an unemotional, factual point of view. I will be happy to answer as many questions as I can.

About the Speaker:

John Veil is President of Veil Environmental, LLC, a consulting practice specializing in water issues affecting the energy industries. He founded the company upon his retirement from Argonne National Laboratory in January 2011. Mr. Veil spent more than 20 years as the manager of the Water Policy Program for Argonne National Laboratory in Washington, DC, where he was a senior scientist. He analyzed a variety of energy industry water and waste issues for the Department of Energy.

Mr. Veil has a B.A. in Earth and Planetary Science from Johns Hopkins University, and two M.S. degrees -- in Zoology and Civil Engineering -- from the University of Maryland.

Before joining Argonne, Mr. Veil managed Maryland’s programs for industrial water pollution control permitting through the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) and Underground Injection Control (UIC). Mr. Veil also served as a faculty member of the University of Maryland, Department of Zoology for several years.

Mr. Veil has been recognized by the Society of Petroleum Engineers as a Distinguished Lecturer in 2008-2009 and 2013-2014 and as the recipient of the 2009 international award for Health, Safety, Security, Environment and Social Responsibility. Mr. Veil has published many articles and reports and is frequently invited to make presentations on environmental and energy issues. In addition to working with water,

Mr. Veil conducts his recreation on water – he spends a great deal of time on the Chesapeake Bay fishing, boating, and kayaking.