Clean Water
Whether it’s maintaining the safety of drinking water or preserving the clarity of the water of our coasts, oil and natural gas producers are ensuring the work we do to power America doesn’t damage any of our other vital resources. From 1990 to 2007, 23 percent of the energy industry’s $175 billion commitment to our environment has been spent protecting our water supply.
Advancements in all areas-exploration and production, extraction, operations and site restoration have yielded results.
Protecting Drinking Water
Advances in production have allowed more resources to be developed from fewer locations-and of course fewer wells mean less waste of all kinds. Precautions at well sites take safety and water protection to the next level. Every step of the production process is carefully applied, and state environmental regulators monitor activities at all well sites to ensure rules are adhered, workers are protected and the water supply is secured. Everything from the initial well bore to the management of waste is carried out with the environment in mind.
With drinking water aquifers generally located just a few hundred feet below the surface, and oil and natural gas reserves thousands of feet down, the real energy action happens miles below any potential ground water. Where the well bore passes through drinking water, multiple layers of protection (including concrete and steel well casings) protect it.
Techniques that help stimulate production-and keep wells open, saving jobs and economic activity-are undertaken with the approval of state and federal agencies. Practices like hydraulic fracturing have been declared safe by the Environmental Protection Agency and other watch dog groups. The fluids used in the process do not come in to contact with drinking water, and are recovered. Wells have been fractured more than one million times without a single instance of drinking water contamination.
Offshore Energy Production
Perhaps more than any other area of energy production, the capturing of oil and natural gas located off America’s coasts has undergone a radical transformation thanks to the cutting-edge technologies. New techniques have made it safer, more environmentally sound and more efficient than ever.
The Department of Interior estimates offshore energy production from 1985 to 2001 totaled 7 billion barrels of oil. The spill rate during that time was only .001 percent. And of all the oil found in the waters off North America, less than 1 percent is attributable to offshore oil and gas development. In fact, the National Academy of Sciences found that 60 percent of it is the result of natural seepage through the ocean floor. By harvesting these resources, we are actually contributing to a decline in the total amount of oil in our water.
3-D seismic and 4-D imaging technologies allow producers to find and access energy in previously unthought-of locations-and to do so without having to “poke around” in the ground. The production of those resources is made more environmentally friendly through devices such as blowout preventers that monitor conditions and storm chokes that allow operators to detect damage and shut down in the case of an emergency.
In 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita wreaked havoc on the Gulf Coast. But even though 115 offshore energy production facilities were destroyed, there were no major oil spills thanks to the technologies and practices.
Finally, the waste products created by offshore energy production are being used as building material for construction projects on land-including roads and other civic initiatives.
