Stories tagged with "hydrofracing"

Casing a Well

Click here or on the "Tech Talk" tab at the top of the opening screen to view prior talks in this series. Recently, these have been running every Sunday.

There has been some concern (that among other things has led to the actions in the House to bring hydrofracing fluid under the Safe Drinking Water Act) about the use of different fluids in oil and gas wells and the risk that they can get into and contaminate surface ground waters that may be used as drinking water. So I thought that I would write a little about well casing today.

General Jones and the Chamber of Commerce Energy Plan

Well they say that “the Times they are a changin’ ” and with the impending change in the Administration and its approach to energy , and the change in the leadership of the Energy and Commerce Committee in the House, I suspect that change is what we are going to get. One indicator of a possible path forward comes from the U. S. Chamber of Commerce, where General James Jones, anticipated to be the next National Security Advisor, has been heading a panel that has just issued A Transition Plan for Securing America’s Energy Future. So I thought we might take a quick look at what it says. To quote the preamble

Global demand (for energy) will increase by more than 50% between now and 2030 – and perhaps by as much as 30% here in the United States. We must develop new, affordable, diverse, and clean sources of energy that will underpin our nation’s economy and keep us strong both at home and abroad. Our energy future must address growing shortfalls in infrastructure capacity and emerging environmental issues. . . . .And looking ahead, even the most optimistic among us must conclude that we are not well positioned to anticipate nor prepared to meet tomorrow’s energy needs.