Energy Secretary to Stump for Shale Innovation

Bren­dan Smi­alowski / Getty Images

Sec­re­tary of Energy Steven Chu speaks dur­ing a meet­ing of the Depart­ment of the Inte­rior, Sep­tem­ber 22, 2010.

Ever won­der how the oil and gas indus­try came up with new meth­ods such as frack­ing? Or new ways to treat frack water? Much of that research takes place at labs run by the Depart­ment of Energy. D.O.E chief Steven Chu will be tour­ing the Department’s National Energy Tech­nol­ogy Lab­o­ra­tory in Pitts­burgh on Thurs­day. D.O.E researchers are focus­ing on what to do with waste water pro­duced from drilling. When it comes to tap­ping the Mar­cel­lus Shale, that waste water often con­tains more than just salt and heavy met­als, it also comes up from the ground with radionu­clides. NETL also con­ducts research, such as a recent report com­par­ing green­house gas emis­sions of coal and nat­ural gas, trac­ing the gas from cra­dle to grave. Sec­re­tary Chu will be joined on the tour with Pitts­burgh Mayor Luke Raven­stahl. Later, he plans to meet with gas indus­try exec­u­tives and mem­bers of the Mar­cel­lus Shale Coalition.