SEES Fellows: Sustainable Development of Shale-gas Resources in Pennsylvania - Bridging Science, Policy and Economics of Hydraulic Fracturing

本研究将解决与页岩气开发的监管和经济相关的两个问题：1)根据联邦安全饮用水法，页岩气地层的水力压裂将如何影响页岩气生产活动和淡水污染的风险？2)与其他能源开发策略相比，页岩气储层水力压裂的长期成本和效益如何？该方法将比较政策分析与页岩气储层水力压裂相关的环境外部性和机会成本的经济评估相结合。目标是制定一种方法来选择法规，将对环境的风险降到最低，同时允许页岩气储量的强劲开发。定向钻井技术的最新进展使得从富含有机物的页岩地层中非常规开采天然气在经济上变得可行。宾夕法尼亚州是可持续页岩气开发的主要研究案例，因为它是美国最有前途的页岩气储层之一——马塞勒斯页岩的基础。油气行业对页岩气开采的快速投资已经超过了监管政策的发展速度，这些政策旨在应对与广泛的水力压裂活动相关的独特环境挑战。在这个项目中进行的评估将有助于指导制定健全的管理政策，以确保淡水资源的安全以及靠近采油井的公民的安全。该项目由美国国家科学基金会科学、工程和教育可持续发展研究员（SEES研究员）计划支持，其目标是帮助实现必要的发现，为导致环境、能源和社会可持续发展的行动提供信息，同时创造必要的劳动力来应对这些挑战。在see研究员的支持下，该项目将使有前途的早期职业研究人员能够在与可持续性相关的独立研究生涯中建立自己的职业生涯。

This research will address two questions related to the regulation and economics of shale-gas development: 1) How would inclusion of hydraulic fracturing of shale-gas formations under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act impact shale-gas production activities and risks of fresh water contamination? 2) What are the comparative long-term costs and benefits of the hydraulic fracturing of shale-gas reservoirs compared to other energy development strategies? The approach will combine comparative policy analysis with an economic assessment of the environmental externalities and opportunity costs associated with the hydraulic fracturing of shale-gas reservoirs. The goal is to develop an approach for choosing regulations that minimize risk to the environment while allowing for robust development of shale-gas reserves.Recent advances in directional drilling have made unconventional extraction of natural gas from organic-rich shale formations economically viable. The state of Pennsylvania serves as a prime case study for sustainable shale-gas development because it is underlain by one of the most promising shale-gas reservoirs in the United States, the Marcellus Shale. The rapid investment in shale-gas extraction by the oil and gas industry has outpaced the development of regulatory policy designed to handle the unique environmental challenges associated with extensive hydraulic fracturing activities. The assessments to be carried out in this project will help guide the development of sound regulatory policy that will ensure the security of fresh water resources and the safety of citizens in close proximity to extraction wells. This project is supported under the NSF Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability Fellows (SEES Fellows) program, with the goal of helping to enable discoveries needed to inform actions that lead to environmental, energy and societal sustainability while creating the necessary workforce to address these challenges. With SEES Fellows support, this project will enable a promising early career researcher to establish themselves in an independent research career related to sustainability.