WSRL Gas Page

WSRL.ORG / Rural Colorado Energy Issues - July. 2005 - Revised April 2011 - Page 1

The promise of large quantities of natural gas locked in shale formations is starting to tarnish.

Shale Gas Rig

Between the issues of fracking fluids contamination of ground water and the needless release of fairly large quantities of methane into the environment, the believed environmental advantages of natural gas, is rapidly starting to disappear.

Area Gas Development - 2011

To get some idea of the magnitude of gas development in Colorado, you might be interested in be interested in maps on the Ecosystems site. In this immediate area monitoring the website of Gunnison Energy Corporation might prove interesting. It's reported that there is a projected natural gas field that may contain upwards of 10 trillion cubic feet of natural gas under the Gunnison, North Fork area. This same area is known for several coal mines that produce coal for distant power plants.

Gas Pricing -

As can be seen from the chart to the right, as goes the demand, so goes the price of natural gas. Natural gas is used for everything from generating electrical power to being feed stock for all types of chemical processes and products. Relatively high labor rates in the U.S. together with the seemingly ever increasing cost of natural gas has resulted in the U.S. being less competitive than desired in the world markets.

Gas and Combined Heat & Power (CHP) -

Contrary to past comments by DMEA, the Oakridge National Labs (ORNL) has a section that is dedicated to the principals of Distributed Generation (DG) and Combined Heat and Power (CHP). A recent report commissioned by ORNL is typical and focuses on Gas Powered Heat Pumps & DG not electric powered. Additional details on CHP, DG and the ORNL programs can be found in the links section to the right.

Methane Hydrates

Like oil shale, the oceans hold vast quantities of methane bearing hydrates. Just as with oil shale, no one has yet figured out an efficient and economical way of tapping the vast hydrate resources.

Coal Bed Methane

Extraction of methane from underground coal beds is a popular process in the mountain west. It is not, however, without it's problems. Typically water laden coal must first be de-watered (pumped dry) which can disrupt nearby water aquifers used for irrigation and domestic wells. Developers often also fracture underground rock and coal structures with chemicals in the form of liquids which are injected underground at high pressure. Leakage of and odor from these chemicals has caused untold problems for residents nearby to the wells.

Syngas - Coal Gasification

Synthetic gas production from coal, when done properly, yields a bonanza of side products. End products range from fertilizer to rare gases to phenol and naphtha based chemicals. CO₂, in the case of Basin Electric's Dakota Gas operation, is a positive and is used to enhance the production of oil wells. Normally, however, being a greenhouse gas, CO₂ must sequestered in some manner to keep it out of the environment. According to experts in this area, this is most easily done if the CO₂ is pure and is not mixed with Nitrogen.

Please continue to next page - - Oil -- Gas -- Propane

Gas Links
Updated October 2007