Mark Boling, President of V+
Development Solutions, a division of Southwestern Energy Company, told a live
webinar audience this afternoon that “industry” needs to do a better job
explaining the value of hydraulic fracking to a pubic with a justifiable
interest in knowing if it’s safe for them and their communities, or not.
The program was organized by the
Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy and broadcast via the
gotomeeting.com conferencing service starting at 3:00 pm EST on Wednesday,
January 23, 2013 It continued until 4:17 pm EST..
Etopia News submitted a written
question that seemed to make it to air.
Asked about the availability of technicians with sufficient competence
and conscientiousness to successfully manage the complex mechanical systems
required by hydraulic fracking to keep it from despoiling the local ambient air
and water, Mr. Boling replied that, in certain circumstances, “There is
validity to the concern that you might not have the number of qualified people
as you would like to have.”
He also said that the
qualifications and numbers of inspectors is also an issue. Providing the funding for adequate
inspectorial oversight was seen by him as a key component of that issue.
Other than that, he was pretty
sanguine about the utility and safety of hydraulic fracking, and seemed content
to see its further expansion in the U.S. and worldwide.
Etopia News’ question about the
use of horizontal drilling technology to open up trillions of dollars’ worth of
proven petroleum reserves just off the California coast did not make it to air.
The sound quality of the program
was loud and clear throughout and the animated graphics very illustrative.
No comments:
Post a Comment