Finding the right balance on natural gas

In a series of posts leading up to the World Economic Forum’s New Energy Architecture report launched on Monday 23rd April 2012, Fred Krupp, President of the Environmental Defense Fund, talks about the environmental challenges of unlocking the potential of shale gas. 

As newly abundant shale gas transforms the US energy economy – burgeoning from 2% of total US natural gas supply in 2001 to about 30% today – environmental concerns have overtaken the public debate. People across the US worry that shale gas cannot be tapped without polluting their drinking water, fouling their air and overwhelming their communities. A significant segment of the public has concluded that of the three imperatives of the energy triangle – growth, sustainability and security – the environmental challenge is not being met.

As a result, communities around the US are having a shale gas rethink. From New York to Pennsylvania to Colorado to Texas, cities and counties are enacting rules to regulate, limit and sometimes block development. As the shale gas revolution moves around the globe, with significant reserves identified in China, Argentina, Poland and Mexico, opposition is also spreading. France, for example, has imposed a nationwide ban on hydraulic fracturing.

It does not have to be this way. And the irony is that environmentalists such as myself had cheered the prospect of a shale gas revolution precisely because of the environmental benefit it offered. Since natural gas releases less carbon dioxide when burned than coal, it gives us a short-term way to reduce the emissions that cause global climate change. As we work to shut down our dirtiest coal-fired power plants, demand for natural gas will increase, until the day when truly clean energy sources such as wind and solar achieve industrial scale.

Some are concerned that shale gas will slow the transition to wind and solar. While these concerns are understandable, since the need to accelerate this transition is so great, the truth is that until we develop cost-effective systems for large-scale energy storage, natural-gas fired power will help us deal  with the intermittency of wind and solar. Shale gas is a complement to renewable energy, but efforts to make it safe are no substitute for a sensible climate and energy policy. Though natural gas can be an important piece of a cleaner future reaping its benefits requires us to reduce local environmental threats and allay public concerns about impacts to air, water and lands.

Last spring, at the direction of President Obama, US Energy Secretary Stephen Chu created a seven-member natural gas advisory board, charged with recommending ways to ensure that this resource can be tapped safely. I was privileged to serve on this panel, chaired by MIT professor John Deutch, which held a series of hearings, visited well sites and convened a public meeting in southern Pennsylvania to hear directly from people living with intensive shale gas development. While no government panel by itself can restore public trust, I believe our recommendations – if put into place by state and federal regulators and the industry – could help lead the way forward.