WVU Plans Marcellus Studies at the Morgantown Industrial Park
WVU creates the first-ever field laboratory for the long-term
study of shale gas resources
WVU Today
6 November 2014
As the Appalachian Region feels the impact of the burgeoning
shale-energy industry, a consortium of researchers and industrial
partners led by West Virginia University, with the assistance of
The Ohio State University, will conduct the first-ever long-term,
comprehensive field study of a natural resource that has changed
the country’s – and the world’s – energy supply.
The five-year, $11 million agreement with the U.S. Department of
Energy will allow the research team to create and manage the
Marcellus Shale Energy and Environment Laboratory, a field site
and dedicated research laboratory at the Morgantown Industrial
Park. Together with the DOE’s National Energy Technology
Laboratory and Northeast Natural Energy – a Charleston-based
private oil and natural gas company that owns and operates the
site – the lab will engage a unique and diverse team of
geoscientists, hydrologists, engineers, ecologists, social
scientists and public health professionals.
The team will identify and demonstrate technologies required for
best practices in environmentally responsible shale development,
from drilling to completion through production. Additionally, the
laboratory will offer real-world education and training for
undergraduate and graduate students to address the complex
technical, environmental and social issues surrounding
unconventional energy development and production.
“To date, there has been no comprehensive long-term field study
that addresses baseline measurements, subsurface development and
environmental monitoring with unconventional resource
development,” said Timothy Carr, WVU’s Marshall Miller professor
of geology, principal investigator of the award and director of
the laboratory.