Downbeat fracking report: The rest of the story

May 24:

Thirty years ago, energy companies began drilling for natural gas in the Barnett Shale, a huge underground formation in Central Texas. Their high hopes were not shared by the U.S. Geological Survey, which estimated only 1 trillion to 3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas were “technically recoverable” in Barnett. For more than a decade, this skepticism seemed dead-on.

But then increasing refinements to an old drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing demolished assumptions about what was “technically recoverable.” By 2003, nearly 1,800 wells had successfully tapped the Barnett Shale, triggering an economic boom that continues to enrich Texas to this day.

So far, the Barnett Shale has yielded 13 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. An estimated 31 trillion more cubic feet is now seen as “technically recoverable.”

This story needs to be kept in mind when contemplating a U.S. Energy Information Administration report last week that sharply reduced the agency’s estimate of recoverable oil in California’s massive Monterey Shale, from 13.7 billion barrels to 600 million barrels. Our state’s complex underground geology has always been seen as a major obstacle to successful drilling; now government officials say it is a giant obstacle.

Energy companies, however, see the same picture as before: a vast resource that will be tough but not impossible to reach. Chevron told The Bakersfield Californian that California “continues to be a great place to invest in.”

They remember what was said about the Barnett Shale — and they know that because of technological gains, hydraulic fracturing just keeps getting more and more effective. In hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, giant underground water cannons are used to pulverize rock formations that block access to oil and natural gas reserves. With every passing year, energy companies are able to more precisely map underground drilling areas — and aim their water cannons — using the equivalent of immense MRIs.

This is why the hope of California sharing in the fracking bonanza enjoyed by Texas, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Ohio shouldn’t fade.

And it’s why we welcome new evidence that some of the state’s most powerful politicians refuse to get on the anti-fracking, anti-fossil fuel bandwagon. Last week, Gov. Jerry Brown repeated his dismissal of the idea that oil would go away as a key energy source anytime soon. And Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, the San Diego Democrat, told the Sacramento Press Club, “We are going to have to strike a balance in terms of how to protect the environment, deal with the concerns of public safety and the health concerns people may have, and also continuing to make sure we have oil. We are dependent on it.”

Brown and Atkins no doubt have won fresh enmity from green true believers as a result. But their refusal to offer glib Sierra Club talking points brings needed candor to the fracking debate in California — a debate that isn’t going to end because of one pessimistic federal report.

Source: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/may/24/downbeat-fracking-report-the-rest-of-the-story/?