SPE Distinguished Lecturer Dan Tormey will present his peer-reviewed study of the environmental effects of hydraulic fracturing during a Web event scheduled for 8 March. The study quantifies the effects of two specific high-volume hydraulic fracturing jobs in 14 environmental-resource categories.
The objective was to provide factual information supported by a high-quality dataset to guide policy making. None of the measurements detected a change from hydraulic fracturing, including microseismic effects, ground motion and induced seismicity, water quality, methane migration, community health, well integrity, and fracture containment to the target zone.
The hydraulic fracturing operations studied occurred in the center of Los Angeles, California, at the largest urban oil field in the US. The level of community and regional concern, the breadth of the study, and many of the results are applicable to other shale oil and gas areas worldwide. The results provide the first dataset that addresses environmental concerns directly and, subsequently, have been used at state and national levels in the US to further the understanding of these issues.
Tormey is an expert in energy, water, and land management, and he conducts environmental reviews for both government and industry. He works with the environmental aspects of all types of energy development, with an emphasis on oil and gas, including hydraulic fracturing and produced-water management, pipelines, liquefied natural gas terminals, refineries, and retail facilities. Tormey holds a PhD degree in geology and geochemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a BS degree in civil engineering and geology from Stanford. He is the president of Catalyst Environmental Solutions and was an SPE distinguished lecturer in 2015–16.