Description: This is
a VOA Special English Economics Report.
See text below
Text:
Many people think the search for cleaner energy
leads only to renewable resources like sun, wind and
water. But it also leads to a fossil fuel. Natural
gas is considered the cleanest of the fossil fuels
-- the fuels created by plant and animal remains
over millions of years.
Burning it releases fewer pollutants than oil or
coal. The gas is mainly methane. It produces half
the carbon dioxide of other fossil fuels. So it may
help cut the production of carbon gases linked to
climate change.
Russia is first in what are called "proved reserves"
of natural gas. The United States is sixth. Over the
years, big oil and gas companies recovered much of
the easily reached supplies of gas in America. They
drilled straight down into formations where gas
collects. As these supplies were used up, big
drillers looked for similar formations in other
countries.
But now the industry is taking a new look. Companies
are developing gas supplies trapped in shale rock
two to three thousand meters underground. They drill
down to the shale, then go sideways and inject
high-pressure water, sand or other material into the
rock.
This causes the rock to break, or fracture,
releasing the gas. Huge fields of gas shale are
believed to lie under the Appalachian Mountains,
Michigan and the south-central states.
Gas shale exploration is being done mainly by small
to medium sized companies.
Eric Potter is a program director in the Bureau of
Economic Geology at the University of Texas at
Austin. He said the kinds of opportunities that are
left for natural gas exploration in the United
States have changed. So it is not as easy to
develop. He says more than half the gas in the
United States is now coming from these new reserves.
But hydraulic fracturing can also produce debate and
anger over the risk of groundwater pollution. This
method of drilling is not federally supervised under
the Safe Drinking Water Act. Some in Congress want
to end that exemption from the law.
Natural gas provides Americans with about one-fourth
of their energy. And, unlike oil, most of it is
produced in America. Gas producers invested heavily
in reaching new supplies when prices were high.
But prices are down sharply now because the
recession cut demand for energy. So energy expert
Eric Potter says it is too early to know how the new
gas shale reserves will affect the market.
And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
