Barnett Shale

Shale critic Deborah Rogers named to advisory board

Fort Worth resident Deborah Rogers, who has been critical of natural gas drilling and the economics of shale gas production, has been named to a 21-member advisory committee to the Department of Interior. The group will "guide and oversee implementation of the United States Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative," which DOI describes on its website as "a voluntary, global effort designed to increase transparency, strengthen the accountability of natural resource revenue reporting and build public trust for the governance of these activities." DOI said President Barack Obama committed the U.S. to the international effort in 2011. Advisory committee members include representatives from environmental organizations, academia and industry.

Rogers, in a prepared release, called the committee's work "a tremendous opportunity to address financial issues with respect to natural resource extraction in this country." She was a 2008-2011 member of an advisory council to the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank, serves on the committee that advised the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality as it located air monitors in the Barnett Shale, and is a board member of Earthworks' Oil and Gas Accountability Project, according to the release. The release said she will appear in the upcoming documentary "Gasland 2"

In 2011 she founded Energy Policy Forum, "a consultancy and educational forum dedicated to policy and financial issues regarding shale gas and renewable energy." In an October blog post on her site, Rogers argued that shale gas is a money-loser driven by Wall Street. "There is no doubt that the investment banking community has been the driving force behind shale production since the economic downturn. Shale should have unravelled long before now. But Wall Street saw an opportunity to generate massive fees and so shale was taken to new heights... ." In 2009 she paid for air quality tests at her Westworth Village farm that showed elevated levels of several chemical compounds associated with natural gas production and flaring. The same year, which saw a sharp decline in the price of natural gas as supply surged, she concluded that shale gas wells "are depleting so quickly that the operators are in an expensive game of 'catch-up,' " according to an e-mail quoted in a New York Times report.

 

 

 

What's up with that flaring well?

Motorists on Interstate 30 may have noticed the flaring of a gas well just off of Beach Street lately. Here's Jim Fuquay's story on it from the S-T last Friday:

A sizeable yellow flame at Interstate 30 and Beach Street in east Fort Worth is the result of natural gas being burned, or "flared," from a well operated by Fort Worth-based Finley Resources. Chairman Jim Finley said the company has completed two wells at the site since late December and has been flaring the gas as it prepares to connect the wells to a pipeline. He expects the flaring to end soon.

When it happens: After a gas well in the Barnett Shale is "fractured" by pumping in water and sand that breaks the rock containing the gas, much of that water flows back out under pressure from the gas. As the gas begins to flow, if the water can't be separated sufficiently, the gas can't be moved to a pipeline. Instead , it can be vented or flares until it has dried sufficiently. The result flame can flare 50 feet.

Not all wells are flared: the largest operators in the Barnett Shale, such as Devon Energy, say they can usually avoid flaring by having equipment on site that can handle the large volume of water that initially flows out of a well and still dry the gas enough to ship it to a pipeline.

How it's controlled: the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the Texas petroleum industry, allows the safe release of gas for 10 days after a well is completed, longer with a special exception. It also allows short-term releases under several other circumstances. No permit is needed for routine flaring and venting. Producers also prefer not to vent or flare gas, because they lose the revenue it would have brought if sold into a pipeline.

It is safe? Flaring is considered safer than venting, which is unburned gas released under pressure. Natural gas, which is mostly methane, is the cleanest-burning hydrocarbon, but it still introduces carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere and also contributes to the formation of ozone, a pollutant and health hazarad, said Brian Boerner, environment management director for the city of Fort Worth.

-- Scott Nishimura

(Photo: Flaring on Jan. 16)