Several AAPG meetings have taken place since the last issue of the EXPLORER was published, including the International Conference and Exhibition in Singapore, and the annual meetings for the Eastern Section (Cleveland) and GCAGS (Austin, Texas).
All had successful environmental sessions, and the turnout for each was excellent.
The speaker for the joint DEG/EMD luncheon in Singapore was John Fontana, who spoke on the topic of “Water Well ‘Problems’ in Areas of Unconventional Resource Development: Appearances are Deceiving and Solutions are Many.”
In his talk, John discussed ways to design a monitoring program to assess water quality and determine potential source(s) of contamination in water wells proximal to active drilling areas.
The good news: A link to his slide show can be found on DEG’s website at deg.aapg.org.
This is only one example of the kind of information we are now including on our website to provide our membership with relevant research and current events associated with both industry and the environment. If you have not visited the DEG website recently, please take a moment to do so – I think you will find it useful and informative.
We also are building a new section of the website that will provide links and information regarding technical studies, research, data and “on-the-ground” happenings relevant to shale gas development.
In addition to the recent AAPG meetings, I also had the distinct pleasure to attend the Integrated Petroleum Environmental Consortium (IPEC) conference in Denver at the end of October.
For those not familiar with IPEC, it is a joint effort by the University of Tulsa, the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University and the University of Arkansas to facilitate reductions in the cost of compliance with environmental regulations, thereby increasing the competitiveness of the domestic petroleum industry.
The technical sessions ranged in content from characterization and remediation of hydrocarbon spills to legal and regulatory issues in production.
The 2012 IPEC meeting agenda and abstracts can be found online at ipec.utulsa.edu/Conf2012/2012agenda.htm.
The latest issue of our quarterly e-newsletter, “Spheres of Influence,” is now out. One of our regular sections is called the “Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” which is a collection of hyperlinks to the latest Internet-based articles regarding the petroleum industry that can be, well, you know, good, bad or ugly.
All DEG members receive the e-newsletter, and all issues are archived on the DEG website.
As you are no doubt aware, several movies have addressed the topic of hydraulic fracturing (“fracing”) in recent years. The latest, by Matt Damon, is called “Promised Land” and due to premiere at the end of December.
How it portrays the oil industry remains to be seen, and it is interesting that the film is being partially financed by the government of Abu Dhabi.
Please continue to spread the truth about hydraulic fracturing to the public. Let’s not bury our heads on this issue so vital to the petroleum industry. The United States has the opportunity to become energy independent in the near future all because of the reserves that this technology has made accessible here at home.
DEG hopes that you remain engaged in the environmental aspects of our work.
If you are not already a DEG member, consider joining to become involved in the environmental side of the energy industry.