Resources For the Future Conference and Webcast: Managing the Risks of Shale Gas: Identifying a Pathway toward Responsible Development

http://www.rff.org/Events/Pages/Managing-the-Risks-of-Shale-Gas.aspx
For decades, natural gas has played an important role in electricity generation, industrial uses, and heating in the United States—and with recent improvements in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) of shale formations, drillers can now access a vastly greater amount of gas at lower cost than in the past. The rapid growth in drilling and extraction, however, has resulted in tensions—from the community level to the federal policy level. Questions about the risks and safety of shale gas development continue, even as industry has improved disclosure, shared best practices, and assured the public that hydraulic fracturing techniques are safe.

Given these challenges, this year RFF’s Center for Energy Economics and Policy (CEEP) launched an initiative to identify the priority risks associated with shale gas development and recommend strategies for responsible development. The CEEP research team will survey expert opinion and public perceptions to determine the most significant risks and the behaviors of industry and regulators that influence those risks. Pairing these findings with analysis of existing state and federal policies and voluntary industry actions will lead to recommendations for how to improve the management of shale gas development.
Event Agenda

	8:30 –  9:00 a.m.		Continental Breakfast
	9:00 –  9:15 a.m.		Welcome and Introduction Phil Sharp, President, RFF
	9:15 –  9:30 a.m.		Session 1: Issues in the Expansion of U.S. Domestic Natural Gas ResourcesAlan Krupnick, Director of the Center for Energy Economics and Policy, RFF
	9:30 –  10:00 a.m.		Session 2: RFF’s Project: Managing the Risks of Shale Gas DevelopmentSheila Olmstead, Fellow, RFF
	10:00 – 10:30 a.m.		Session 3: Introduction to the Shale Gas Development ProcessMukul Sharma, Professor and “Tex” Moncrief Centennial Chair in Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, University of Texas at Austin
	10:30 – 10:45 a.m.		Break
	10:45 – 11:15 a.m.		Session 4: Identifying the Sources of Fugitive Methane Associated with Shale Gas Development Karlis Muehlenbachs, Professor, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta
	11:15 – 11:45 a.m.		Session 5: Water Quality Issues Associated with Shale Gas Development James Saiers, Professor of Hydrology, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University
	11:45 a.m. – 12 p.m.		Final Q&A/Wrap-Up

Resources for the Future (RFF) www.RFF.org
First Floor Conference Center; 1616 P Street NW; Washington, D.C.

Registration is required. Please sign up to attend using their event registration system.
This seminar will also be webcast live beginning at 9:00 a.m. EST.

Have a question for the panel while watching the live webcast? Simply tweet your question of fewer than 140 characters and include the hashtag #AskRFF. Watch the Q&A at the end of the event to see if it is selected.