Aspen, Colorado

DOE Natural Gas

Project Goals

The Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB), a group of external advisers to DOE chief Steven Chu helmed by former Defense Secretary William Perry, agreed today to form a group looking more closely at the issue. SEAB member John Deutch, a chemist with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and former undersecretary of Energy and director of U.S. foreign intelligence agencies, said recent advances in drilling for natural gas, and particularly shale gas, will be game-changing. "There's a lot of gas out there. And it's true everywhere in the world," Deutch said, noting that Energy Information Administration projections show a dramatic increase in the share of natural gas from shale by 2035. "It's the biggest deal that's happened in energy resources in the last 50 years," he said.

Stakeholders

  • John Deutch, Institute Professor at MIT
  • Stephen Holditch, Petroleum Engineering, Texas A&M University
  • Fred Krupp, President, Environmental Defense Fund
  • Kathleen McGinty, Former EPA of PA
  • Susan Tierney, Analysis Group
  • Daniel Yergin, IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates
  • Mark Zoback, Professor of Geophysics, Stanford University

Progress

• Raise the level of discourse: Environmental NGOs and producers share many common goals but have rarely displayed the capability to collaborate effectively. We can create a venue to enable focus and accelerate this conversation.
• Identify some “quick wins”: Encouraging a prominent group of producers to voluntarily adopt a higher standard for disclosing fracturing fluid chemicals, for example, would be a meaningful catalyst for larger, more systemic change.
• Jointly develop a comprehensive set of standards: Consolidating the existing work on “best practices” for shale gas development will provide clear, authoritative guidance for producers, state regulators, and other stakeholders.
• Improve the consistency and appropriateness of state regulations: Creating a set of “model codes”, pre-vetted by both major producers and influential environmental organizations, which are then adopted by state regulators and incorporated into state laws, would be an invaluable outcome.


Project Summary

A key Energy Department advisory board will likely undertake an analysis of the development and use of natural gas resources, in recognition of the growing role the fuel could play over the coming years.

The Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB), a group of external advisers to DOE chief Steven Chu helmed by former Defense Secretary William Perry, agreed today to form a group looking more closely at the issue.

SEAB member John Deutch, a chemist with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and former undersecretary of Energy and director of U.S. foreign intelligence agencies, said recent advances in drilling for natural gas, and particularly shale gas, will be game-changing.

"There's a lot of gas out there. And it's true everywhere in the world," Deutch said, noting that Energy Information Administration projections show a dramatic increase in the share of natural gas from shale by 2035. "It's the biggest deal that's happened in energy resources in the last 50 years," he said.
Ralph Cicerone, president of the National Academy of Sciences, warned of the impacts that any revolution in natural gas use will have on other sectors.

"We've got to get it right, because of what it's going to do to nuclear and solar and wind at these prices," he said, referring to current and projected natural gas prices that put severe pressure on other industries to compete. Cicerone said that if some current projections bear out, companies with competing technologies could go out of business.
Committee members agreed that they should not duplicate the work of the many other groups that are seeking to assess the rapidly developing resource base but might focus on appropriate roles for DOE to play in shaping the industry's development.

Chu, who attended most of the daylong advisory meeting, described the exploitation of shale gas as the biggest development in energy in recent years but was not present when a natural gas subcommittee was proposed.

The SEAB advisers are also giving special attention to technology transfer through the "valley of death" between research and commercialization and to increasing the energy efficiency of buildings and the equipment inside them. Other potential areas of focus include how DOE works with Defense to speed the deployment of energy technologies, and DOE's work on smart-grid technologies.

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