Interesting Comments on Shale Gas Drilling from Director of Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program

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Rhonda Reda, executive director of the non-profit group Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program, recently spoke to a small audience at Columbiana High School (Columbiana, Ohio). Reda had some interesting facts and figures to share with the audience. She said that hydraulic fracturing was first used in Ohio to frack a well in 1951. Some of her other comments:

She said 90 percent of gas and oil wells in Ohio were created through hydraulic fracturing. The process used prior to hydraulic fracturing involved dropping dynamite down a hole.

"Without hydraulic fracturing, we just stop drilling," she said.

Reda said 20 on-shore gas wells produce the same amount of energy on average as 724 wind turbines or 241,000 solar panels.

She listed the nation’s crude oil consumption at 20 million barrels per day, adding that China is set to surpass us within 10 years.

During the energy crisis of the 1970s, she said 23 percent of our nation’s oil came from foreign sources. Today, the nation is more than 60-percent dependent on foreign oil.

Part of the new demand for energy comes from computers, which she said use about 20 percent of the nation’s energy, and other emerging technology, from cell phones to video game consoles to electric can openers.

While many people have stepped forward with claims that hydraulic fracturing poses a danger of water contamination, Reda said there are no confirmed cases of hydraulic fracturing resulting in groundwater contamination anywhere in the nation.*

Read the rest of her cogent and interesting comments by clicking the link below.

*Morning Journal News (May 8, 2011) – Drilling advocate addresses concerns

5 Comments


  1. Reda said 20 on-shore gas wells produce the same amount of energy on average as 724 wind turbines or 241,000 solar panels.”

    What she fails to mention is that the turbines keep spinning and the solar panels just sit there and keep soaking up the sun…thus producing so much more energy than gas. When the gas is gone, it’s gone. When the gas is gone, the sun still shines and the wind still blows. Her statement is pretty misleading.

  2. Disagree. Sure, the energy sources are still there but turbines and panels have shelf lives on the same order as the production life of these wells – and not only is amount of energy produced important but also number of units since surface disturbance is indeed an issue with alternative energies. The footprint of a wind farm is very large and people like their view-sheds. The unfortunate bottom line is no matter the source, people want their energy to come from somewhere else.

  3. Disagree. I would love a landscape of windmills. Hell, they can put them in my yard. Whether turbines and panels have shelf lives or not isn’t the point. The point is THE WIND KEEPS BLOWING AND THE SUN KEEPS SHINING…THE GAS IS GONE WHEN IT’S GONE. There is nothing about that that can be disagreed with.

  4. The point is Beth, everyone would need windmills and solar panels, and even then it could not meet our energy needs. Natural gas (and oil and yes, even coal) will be needed for some time to come. Eventually yes, it would be really great to have the alternative sources do the job–but we won’t be there for at least a generation, maybe longer.

  5.  When your yard fills up with the carcasses of dead birds flying into the turbine blades you won’t think their so great anymore.