The emergence of the North American shale-gas resource is the most positive event in the U.S. energy outlook in 50 years. But realizing this opportunity will require cooperation between industry and regulators on a new commitment to data-driven best practices that will lead to a continuous improvement in environmental outcomes.
As big as the opportunity is, the emergence of shale gas has stirred opposition and uncertainty. The fundamental question is how to exploit this resource in an environmentally responsible manner. Done properly, the economic benefits are enormous. But if it is done poorly — or, perceived as being done poorly — public opposition will slow or stop its growth and return the country to a trend of increasing dependence on higher-priced imported natural gas.
Natural gas provides a quarter of the U.S. energy supply. Shale gas has grown from less than 2 percent of domestic natural gas production in 2001 to almost 30 percent today and is expected to be 45 percent by 2035. Hundreds of thousands of Americans are employed in its production, from Wyoming to Texas to Pennsylvania. This abundant domestic supply of a fuel with cleaner-burning characteristics than oil or coal has meant, since 2009, that consumers’ costs of natural gas to heat homes or generate electricity have fallen by more than half.
There are also national security benefits as shale-gas production expands, increasing the diversity of supply and reducing future dependence on major natural-gas resource holders such as Russia and Iran. The growth of domestically produced shale gas has already saved tens of billions of dollars on our balance of payments.
Shale gas and associated hydrocarbon liquids are produced by hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” One million to 5 million gallons of fracking fluid — a mixture of water, sand and chemical additives — is injected along horizontal pipe extending a mile or more, several thousand feet underground. Although some are concerned that fracking fluid can contaminate shallow underground drinking-water supplies, the distance between deep shale-gas deposits and water aquifers makes the likelihood of such contamination remote.
But there are other environmental impacts from shale-gas production: the disposal of waste water produced from the well, air emissions, community disruption from truck traffic and considerable surface activity, and the longer-term regional consequences of unplanned development as wells are drilled.
In January, Energy Secretary Steven Chu formed a subcommittee of his advisory board on natural gas. In March, President Obama declared that “recent innovations have given us the opportunity to tap large reserves — perhaps a century’s worth” of shale gas and called for the subcommittee to identify steps to reduce the environmental impacts of shale-gas production.
The subcommittee, which I chaired, presented recommendations this week that would give the public, regulators and industry a measurable way to monitor progress in reducing current and potential environmental impacts of shale-gas production, not just from fracking.
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