Nov 21, 2013 3 min read

Greene County farmer Andrew Place helped to cultivate an improbable idea that may lead to a bountiful harvest.

“All of us came together with a shared vision, with a potential that would be generational,” Place said of the Center for Sustainable Shale Development, a coalition of representatives of gas and oil companies, environmental organizations and philanthropic foundations.

This group of perceived opposing forces, Place said, strives to work together “to strike the right balance” in establishing performance standards for companies working in the Marcellus and Utica shales – standards that will receive third-party certification.

He described CSSD’s approach as “reasoned discourse,” which also was the theme of the W&J Energy Lecture Series discussion Wednesday night in the Howard J. Burnett Center. Place and Davitt Woodwell, executive vice president of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, spoke about “Obtaining a Social License to Operate in the Unconventional Shale Domain.”

Place also is corporate director of energy and environmental policy at EQT Corp., in Pittsburgh, one of four oil and gas drilling firms involved with the coalition. So sharing the dais – specifically a table – with an environmental exec at the front of Yost Auditorium proved to be a microcosm of what the center is about. Especially with Woodwell likewise advocating cooperation among entities with different interests.

The owner of a 210-acre farm in Washington Township, Place reiterated the importance of CSSD “keeping that balance” to help to ensure responsible shale development, the extraction of abundant natural gas – the overwhelming preference over coal – with minimal threat to health and environment.

He said its 12-member board “speaks very much toward keeping that balance. We must see this down the middle or this (body) comes apart and sees an early death.”

CSSD was established in 2011, and the next year came out with 15 performance standards for air and water during regional shale development.

“This is a protective set of standards,” Place said. “It is a message that resonates across the globe. We set these 15 standards, but they are not etched in stone.”

Woodwell advocated responsible shale development too, lamenting especially the abandonment of well and mine sites years ago after resources had been tapped out. He said the locations of numerous former well sites are unknown and addressed the oft-denounced issues of mine drainage and subsidence.

“It used to be that development ran rampant without what may happen (to the land) in the future,” Woodwell said. “We want to make sure we have control.”

The evening ended with questions from members of the audience of about 60. At that time, Woodwell was asked about natural gas being a bridge from coal to the popular energy sources, renewables – solar, wind and hydroelectric. He praised the rising prominence of natural gas, but with a caveat.

“The bridge has gotten too long,” he said, “and how long before you go back with a renewed focus on renewables.”

This was the third of the series of five discussions in the series during this school year at Washington & Jefferson College. The fourth will be “Thirst for Power: The Nexus of Energy & Water,” at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 27.