Natural gas is the ugly stepchild of our national energy debate: not enjoy the political muscle of oil and coal, and never capture the imagination, such as solar panels and wind farms. And to top it all off, it was in short supply.
But that is changing and now this stepchild is touted as the hope of the future – the answer to our energy problems.
What brought about the change is that there is a new unconventional method of extracting natural gas from shale, a dense rock two miles below ground.
And if you’re sitting on top of, you can create a new American phenomenon “. Shaleionaire” A
Yet, if the BP spill last summer taught us anything, it is that the investigations into security threats, energy. But when we first reported in November, can get lost in all the excitement.
What is increasingly clear that shale is overwhelming abundance here in the U.S.
Extra: Meet the “shaleionaires”
Extras: Gas drilling horror story
Link: Haynesville Shale
“In the last few years we have discovered the equivalent of two Saudi Arabias of oil in the form of natural gas in the United States. Not one, but two,” Aubrey McClendon, the CEO of Chesapeake Energy, told “60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl.
“Wait, we have twice as much gas in this country, is that what you say, than they have oil in Saudi Arabia?” Stahl asked.
“I try to say very clearly that exactly,” he replied.
Chesapeake Energy is the largest independent producer of gas in the country. McClendon is on a mission to the U.S. from foreign oil and dirty coal getting.
Gas has almost half the carbon emissions from coal, and no mercury.
“But gas is still a fossil fuel,” Stahl pointed out.
“So it’s perfect? No,” said McClendon. “The answer is that it is not perfect. But for the next 20 years, natural gas is probably our best chance. The good news is, we have it. We have as much as anyone else in the world.”
There are shale formations in many parts of the country, and there is production or exploration in over 30 states. It is a U.S. energy renaissance.
Approximately 10,000 wells will be drilled in northwest Louisiana, some of the poorest communities in the country, where poor farmers are becoming overnight millionaires when they lease their land for drilling.
“I never dreamed of money like this,” says Stahl CB Leatherwood. ”
Leatherwood, a retired oil field worker, was a bundle drilling his farm: $ 434,000.
His cousin, Mike Smith, also benefited: he was paid nearly $ 2 million.
“So what have you done that day?” Stahl said Smith.
“I sat back and thought about it for the whole day. And I said, ‘I’m a millionaire.” And that does not sound right, “he replied.
They actually call them “shaleionaires,” and they do not mind the noisy, smelly drilling the wells when being built, because part of the profits, which could last for years and add millions more.
Within one year, shale drilling for almost $ 6 billion in new household income in Louisiana. If the rest of the country plunged into recession, the region added about 57,000 local jobs, and Cadillac dealer in the city is hopping.
People have known for a century that contained shale gas, but it was too difficult and costly to win.
source:cbsnews
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