Page 25 - ATR 2 2012 web 2

The road to Shale

Making natural gas readily available to consumers has its challenges

By todd traub

Contributing Writer

The most affordable and plentiful
alternative fuel to petroleum is natural
gas. And the United States has more
natural gas deposits than anywhere in
the world. But there are many chal-
lenges to making that alternative fuel a
reality in the marketplace. Gas produc-
ers are finding out that extracting the
gas from shale rock formations is only
half the battle.
In fact, the oil and natural gas
industry now faces many of the same
hurdles that the forestry industry in
Arkansas has faced. “The comparison is
oddly enough very similar,” said Kelly
Robbins, who heads up the Arkansas
Independent Producers and Royalty
Owners (AIPRO). “Both forests and
natural gas are vital, natural resources.
They have to be harvested, and it’s got
to be done in a safe, responsible man-
ner.”
But not only must extracting the first natural gas find was in Scott natural gas extraction in the state are
fuel from beneath the earth pass muster County in 1887. A second gas well was part of an overall, shale-drilling boom
with federal and state regulators and drilled in the area two years later and and are leading more people—including
the ever watchful eye of environmen- was also the first recorded effort in the the trucking industry—to consider natu-
tal groups, that’s only half the battle. state to find oil, though only gas was ral gas as an alternative energy source
The industry faces political opponents, present. in the U.S.
sometimes in the oil industry, who The first oil field in Arkansas was With rising diesel prices siphon-
don’t want to lose market share. There found south of El Dorado, in Union ing trucking company’s pocketbooks,
is also a lack of infrastructure to make County, in 1921. Robbins said now’s a good time to have
it available to the trucking industry, a In 2003, the discovery and devel- a discussion about the role of natural
targeted user. And there are legislators opment of the Fayetteville Shale for- gas as one of the country’s, and the
who see the industry as ripe for taxa- mation, in the north-central part of world’s, energy solutions, Robbins said.
tion, a step that could take natural gas Arkansas, gave the state its third, major, Robbins’s group noted that in 20
along the same taxing path as gasoline natural gas or oil producing region. years demand for energy will increase
and diesel. The discovery pushed Arkansas into 44 percent over current levels. Natural
Natural gas is nothing new to the top 10 in natural gas producing gas is seen as viable because it is cheap,
Arkansas. According to the Encyclopedia states. supplies are up because of shale extrac-
of Arkansas History and Culture, the These days, the ongoing efforts at tions like those in Arkansas and it

ArkAnSAS trucking report | issue 2 2012 25