U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Fossil Energy and National Energy Technology Laboratory: Modern Shale Gas Development in the United States: A Primer.

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The Primer provides regulators, policy makers, and the public with an objective source of information on the technology advances and challenges that accompany deep shale gas development and describes the importance of shale gas in meeting the future energy needs of the United States.

Protecting and conserving water resources is an important aspect of producing shale gas, and this effort was championed by the Ground Water Protection Council through a cooperative agreement with NETL.

(Editor’s Note. 15 Dec 2023)

Primer: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Fossil Energy and National Energy Technology Laboratory. Modern Shale Gas Development in the United States: A Primer. Washington, D.C. U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). April 2009. 116pages. [PDF-5.11MB].

See also: Remarks of Acting Assistant Secretary for FECM Dr. Jennifer Wilcox as prepared at Ground Water Protection Council on September 28, 2021. U.S. Dept of Energy, Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management.

U.S. Department of Energy Home Page. 15 Dec 2023.

I want to start by noting that there have been some significant changes in our office at the Department of Energy.

In July, we changed the name of our office from the Office of Fossil Energy to the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management.

And just a couple weeks ago, we reorganized our office to refocus our R&D priorities significantly on climate change concentrating on research, development, demonstration, and deployment priorities that will pave the way for achieving net-zero carbon emissions by mid-century.

These priorities include:

Expanding the reach of carbon capture and storage technologies;

Investing in carbon dioxide removal technologies to remove carbon emissions from the atmosphere;

Reducing methane emissions from coal, oil, and gas production and transport;

Helping to advance a clean hydrogen economy; and

Developing domestic sources of the critical minerals that will be required in a clean energy economy.

This mission – and the work required to achieve it – is more urgent than ever before.

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently released its sixth assessment report, and the news is sobering – absent deep cuts in carbon dioxide emissions, average global temperatures will exceed 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

And the report couldn’t be clearer – humans have definitively caused dramatic climate change and ‘a new normal’ era of extreme weather isn’t just on the horizon – it’s here, as we’ve seen across the country with severe impacts associated with more frequent and intense storms, droughts, and wildfires.

So, we have an urgent, but shrinking, window of opportunity to limit the harm done to our most vulnerable climate populations.
Remarks of Acting Assistant Secretary for FECM Dr. Jennifer Wilcox as prepared at Ground Water Protection Council on September 28, 2021. U.S. Dept of Energy, Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management.