Northeast-Midwest Institute

Panelists:

• David Cole, Senior Advisor, Shell Oil Upstream Americas Onshore Gas
• Jan Jarett, President and CEO, Penn Future
• Dr. David Velinsky, Biogeochemist, Senior Scientist and Vice President of the Academy of Natural Sciences and Director of the Patrick Center for Environmental Research

Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing extraction methods, coupled with high energy demand have given energy companies reason to take significant interest in the natural gas resources.  To date, these practices have provided notable economic and jobs benefits to many of our communities—but also consume large amounts of fresh water, produce wastewater containing chemicals and other contaminants, and impact localized air quality.  And it’s all happening very quickly.  Because this type of development carries many implications for the wellbeing of our region’s economy and environment, this activity requires extremely careful and thoughtful consideration.

During the briefing, panelists from various sectors will be sharing basic “fracking” information and answering questions regarding their knowledge of the natural gas development process.  Additional, in-depth briefings on specific themes within this broader issue will follow this fall.

This will be an important opportunity for us to gain a better understanding of the nature of gas development in the region and to ask questions as we consider energy policy and our economic and environmental futures over the near and long term.

Please feel free to contact Mike Gaffin (Senator Brown) at x4-0606 if you have any questions.  We hope to see you on September 19th.

Sincerely,