Economist Defends Method Used to Extract Natural Gas
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
22 July 2010
By Elwin Green,
Get John Felmy started on the subject of hydraulic fracturing, the
process by which a mixture of water, sand and chemicals is blasted into
rock formations to create fractures that release natural gas, and he
responds with something that one does not typically associate with
economists: passion.
In a phone interview, the chief economist for the American Petroleum
Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based trade association for oil and
natural gas producers, said claims that hydraulic fracturing may be
responsible for consequences ranging from fish kills to explosions are
"complete nonsense."
"The fracturing process in itself has never been found to have
contaminated a water supply in over a million wells that have been
fractured over the last six years," he said, speaking with rapid-fire
intensity.
That intensity reflects the intensity of the attention that hydraulic
fracturing has received recently. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., has introduced
legislation to regulate the practice, the House Subcommittee on Energy
and Environment is examining it, and the Environmental Protection
Agency has scheduled a public meeting this evening in Canonsburg about
it, the third of four such forums being conducted as part of a study to
be concluded in September.
Meanwhile, a new study has upped the estimate of jobs to be created by
development in the Marcellus Shale, a geologic formation underlying
much of Pennsylvania, and a new program to train workers has received
nearly $5 million from the U.S. Department of Labor.
Mr. Casey joined with U.S. Representatives Diana DeGette, D-Colo.,
Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., and Jared Polis, D-Colo., last month to
introduce the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals
(FRAC) Act.
The senator said the act would repeal a provision of the 2005 energy
bill that exempted hydraulic fracturing from the Safe Drinking Water
Act. It would also require natural gas producers to publicly disclose
the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing.
Mr. Felmy said those chemicals are already disclosed in data sheets
available at each well site, and that many companies also list them
online; and that the FRAC Act threatens to slow down or even stop
natural gas production in the Marcellus Shale.
"It is unbelievable to me" that a Pennsylvania senator would propose
it, he said.
The House Subcommittee, chaired by Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., sent a
letter Monday to 10 energy producers, asking them to list all of the
oil and gas wells for which they performed hydraulic fracturing, the
total volumes of flowback and produced water recovered by state and
year, and their company policies regarding on-site storage of flowback
and produced water, among other information.
EQT Corp., headquartered Downtown, received the letter, and spokesman
Kevin West said the company was in the process of gathering information
to meet the requested Aug. 6 deadline.
"We think that any study that's based on the relevant facts and science
will lead to the same conclusion that previous studies come to," Mr.
West said, "which is that there is no negative impact on water
resources from the use of hydraulic fracturing."
Mr. Felmy said state regulators are providing sufficient oversight of
Marcellus Shale development, and fining or otherwise restraining
companies when their practices have produced harmful results.
But he also argued that some complaints made by residents near drilling
sites of such things as odors or bad-tasting water have nothing to do
with gas wells.
"It could have already been there," he said. "In many cases ... it was
already naturally occurring."
For many, the most important aspect of Marcellus Shale development has
been job creation. A new program, Marcellus Shalenet, announced
Wednesday that it has received nearly $5 million in federal funds to
offer training for local workers through a consortium led by
Westmoreland County Community College and the Pennsylvania College of
Technology.
Also Wednesday, the American Petroleum Institute released a new study
asserting that the development of Marcellus Shale gas could create
100,000 jobs by 2020 under a "low development" scenario and more than
280,000 under a "high development" scenario.
With those economic stakes, Mr. Felmy said, "Every day that we don't
move forward on these things is a day that a poor Pennsylvanian doesn't
have a job, and that's wrong."
Elwin Green: egreen@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1969.