Chesapeake: Shale Drillers Need to Reduce Surface Impacts

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At a conference in Charelston, WV on Thursday, Chesapeake vice president Scott Rotruck said the drilling industry needs to do a better job at reducing surface impacts from shale drilling.

The natural gas industry needs to keep working to reduce the on-the-ground impacts of the Marcellus Shale drilling boom in West Virginia’s Northern Panhandle, a top official from Chesapeake Energy said Thursday.

"With natural gas, everybody likes the blue flame," Chesapeake vice president Scott Rotruck told a business conference in Charleston. "Making it can be problematic. Nobody likes that part.

"I can tell you this: The sausage-making will get better and better and better."

Rotruck was among the speakers at the close of a two-day conference the West Virginia Manufacturers Association sponsored to promote the prospect of landing a cracker plant and "downstream" facilities that would turn natural gas wastes into marketable products.*

The article does not reference what Rotruck meant by on-the-ground impacts, but spills of fracking fluid and wastewater, along with soil erosion and run-off are certainly some of the important issues that should be reduced or eliminated as much as possible.

*The Charleston Gazette (Mar 22, 2012) – Gas drilling needs to improve, Chesapeake official says