J. Winston Porter: U.S. has bright energy future
October 9, 2012
The United States is in the midst of an energy revolution. A huge increase in domestic oil and natural gas production is reshaping our energy future.
The innovative combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, has ushered in an oil and gas boom from shale-rock formations, which are about a mile below drinking and irrigation water supplies. Across the country, from Colorado and Wyoming to Texas, North Dakota, and Pennsylvania drillers are producing oil and natural gas in record volumes. This new production is providing increased energy security, reduced energy costs, and many thousands of new jobs.
Take for example shale energy production in Pennsylvania and North Dakota. Since 2006, drilling in Pennsylvania has generated $1 billion in local and state tax revenues and created more than 75,000 new jobs. In North Dakota, oil production has grown from 3,000 to more than 600,000 barrels per day, making it the nation's second largest oil producer. North Dakota now has the lowest unemployment rate in the country and a $1 billion budget surplus.
As recently as 2008, it was believed that U.S. natural gas production couldn't possibly keep up with demand. But the emergence of shale gas has turned the U.S. into the world's largest gas producer. This gas surge is changing the way we generate electricity, because gas prices have fallen from about $12 per thousand cubic feet in 2008 to about $3 this year. Utilities are reducing their reliance on coal-fired generation, with this switch to more gas producing tangible environmental benefits.
The production of electricity from gas creates a fraction of the sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions, and about half of the carbon dioxide emissions as electricity produced from coal. In the past six years, the U.S. has reduced carbon dioxide emissions more than any other country.
But despite the promise of the shale energy production there are concerns that fracking poses a threat to groundwater supplies. Questions have been raised about the quantity of water used in the process and the threat of potential groundwater contamination from migrating gas or fracturing fluid.
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Fracking involves forcing a mixture of 99 percent water, along with sand and chemicals, down wells at high pressure to crack oil and gas-bearing shale to free trapped fuel. Several million gallons of water are needed for the fracturing process, but fortunately fracking takes only a few days. In addition, producers are making great advances in reducing water use, including recycling fracturing fluid for reuse in new wells.
In addition, claims of groundwater contamination from fracking are not supported by the facts. Fracking has been used safely for decades in hundreds of thousands of oil and gas wells. In May of 2011, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa Jackson told the U.S. Senate that she wasn't aware "of any proven case where the fracking process itself affected water."
However, strong regulation of fracking is important to the continued safe production of oil and gas. States, like Colorado, should continue to take the lead role in regulating the process. Each state has its own unique geology and water resources, which are most effectively managed by those who know them best. Over-regulation from the EPA, with its "one size fits all" approach would be a mistake.
America's energy future is bright. The shale energy revolution is providing energy security, jobs, and a cost-effective and cleaner energy future. Let's embrace it.
J. Winston Porter is an energy and environmental consultant in Savannah, Ga. Earlier, he was an assistant administrator of the EPA in Washington, D.C.