{"id":65429,"date":"2013-09-04T08:50:04","date_gmt":"2013-09-04T07:50:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/frackademia-by-law\/65429\/"},"modified":"2013-09-04T08:50:04","modified_gmt":"2013-09-04T07:50:04","slug":"frackademia-by-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/frackademia-by-law\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cFrackademia\u201d By Law"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the school year starting for many this week, it\u2019s another year of academia for professors across the United States \u2014 and another year of \u201cfrackademia<\/a>\u201d for an increasingly large swath of \u201cfrackademics\u201d under federal law.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrackademia\u201d is best defined as flawed but seemingly legitimate science and economic studies on the controversial oil and gas\u00a0horizontal drilling process known as\u00a0hydraulic fracturing (\u201cfracking\u201d)<\/a>, but done with industry funding and\/or industry-tied academics (\u201cfrackademics\u201d).<\/p>\n

While the \u201cfrackademia<\/a>\u201d phenomenon has received much media coverage, a critical piece missing from the discussion is the role played by Section 999 of\u00a0the\u00a0Energy Policy Act of 2005<\/a>. Although merely ten pages out of the massive 551-page bill, Section 999 created the U.S. Department of Energy-run\u00a0Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America (RPSEA)<\/a>, a \u201cnon-profit corporation formed by a consortium of premier U.S. energy research universities, industry and independent research organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, RPSEA receives $1 billion of funding \u2014 $100 million per year \u2014 between 2007 and 2016. On top of that, Section 999 creates an \u201cOil and Gas Lease Income\u201d fund \u201cfrom any Federal royalties, rents, and bonuses derived from Federal onshore and offshore oil and gas leases.\u201d The federal government put $50 million in the latter pot to get the ball rolling.<\/p>\n

The Energy Policy Act of 2005\u00e2\u20ac\u00b2s\u00a0\u201dHalliburton Loophole<\/a>\u201d \u2014 which created an enforcement exemption from the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act for fracking, and made the chemicals found within fracking fluid a \u201ctrade secret\u201d \u2014 is by far the bill\u2019s most notorious legacy for close followers of fracking.<\/p>\n

These provisions were helped along by then-Vice President Dick Cheney\u2019s Energy Policy Task Force<\/a>, which entailed countless meetings between Big Oil lobbyists and executives and\u00a0members of President George W. Bush\u2019s cabinet. Together, these lobbyists and appointees hammered out the details behind closed doors of what became the Energy Policy Act of 2005, a\u00a0bill receiving a \u201cyes\u201d vote<\/a> by then-U.S. Sen. Barack Obama.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, almost no focus \u2014 comparatively speaking \u2014 has gone into scrutinizing Section 999, which subsidizes biased pro-industry studies for a decade and in turn, further legitimizes unfettered fracking nationwide.<\/p>\n

Speaking at an\u00a0industry public relations conference<\/a> in Houston, TX in 2011\u00a0– the same conference in which it was revealed the\u00a0shale gas industry is using psychological warfare<\/a> tactics on U.S. citizens\u00a0and recommending the military\u2019s \u201cCounterinsurgency Field Manual\u201d for \u201cdealing with an insurgency\u201d of Americans concerned about fracking \u2014 S. Dennis Holbrook of Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York\u00a0stated that it\u2019s crucial for industry<\/a>\u00a0to \u201cseek out academic studies and champion with universities\u2013because that again provides tremendous credibility to the overall process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Section 999: In Service to Big Oil<\/strong><\/p>\n

RPSEA\u2019s \u201cFAQ\u201d section makes its\u00a0raison d\u2019\u00c3\u00aatre crystal clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe objective of RPSEA is to leverage research dollars along with the technical expertise and experience of RPSEA Members to conduct industry led research and development work to help commercialize domestic\u2026Unconventional Onshore Hydrocarbon Resources,\u201d\u00a0RPSEA\u2019s website explains<\/a>. \u201cRPSEA will focus on innovative technologies to reduce the costs of production, expand and extend the nation\u2019s hydrocarbon resource base\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Membership in RPSEA\u00a0costs between $1,000-$10,000 per year<\/a>\u00a0depending on the company size or if the member has non-profit tax status.\u00a0Industry dues-paying members<\/a>\u00a0include ExxonMobil, Chesapeake Energy, Halliburton, BP, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, GE Oil and Gas, Encana, Statoil, Total, Cabot, BG Group, Devon, Anadarko and many others.<\/p>\n

22 universities<\/a> also pay RPSEA membership dues. They include\u00a0University of Utah, University of Texas-Austin (a\u00a0well-known \u201cfrackademia\u201d hub<\/a>), Ohio State University (another\u00a0well-known \u201cfrackademia\u201d hub<\/a>), Colorado School of Mines, Louisiana State University, Oklahoma State University, Stanford University, West Virginia State University, Colorado State University and many others.<\/p>\n

RPSEA\u2019s Board of Directors<\/a>\u00a0– whose\u00a0members serve two-year terms<\/a>\u00a0– has representatives from the oil and gas industry consisting of GE Oil and Gas, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, Baker Hughes,\u00a0Western Energy Alliance, Petrobas and Total. Its\u00a0Unconventional Resources Program Advisory Committee<\/a>\u00a0features representatives from Devon Energy, Chesapeake Energy, BP, Southwestern Energy, Schlumberger and Baker Hughes.<\/p>\n

The RPSEA\u00a0Strategic Advisory Committee<\/a>\u00a0is more of the same: representatives from GE Oil and Gas,\u00a0Gas Technology Institute and two \u201cfrackademics\u201d from University of Southern California (Donald Paul) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Melanie Kenderdine), respectively.<\/p>\n

Donald Paul<\/a>\u00a0serves as Executive Director of USC\u2019s Energy Institute, which oversaw the publishing of the\u00a0\u201dfrackademia\u201d study titled, \u201cPowering California.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0Paul retired in 2008 as Chevron\u2019s vice president and chief technology officer.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring his 33 year tenure at Chevron, he held a variety of positions in research and technology, exploration and production operations, and executive management, including service as president of Chevron\u2019s Canadian subsidiary,\u201d\u00a0explains his USC biography<\/a>. \u201cHe was extensively involved in forming external research and technology partnerships between Chevron and major universities, governments, and businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tethered to Obama Secretary of Energy and \u201cFrackademic\u201d Ernest Moniz<\/strong><\/p>\n

RPSEA Advisory Committee member\u00a0Melanie Kenderdine<\/a>\u00a0formerly served as Executive Director of MIT\u2019s Energy Initiative, a position she took over when her MIT colleague Ernest Moniz was named U.S. Secretary of Energy in 2005. The Energy Initiative is a who\u2019s who of Big Oil powerhouses at the\u00a0membership level<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0external advisory board level<\/a>.\u00a0Moniz formerly<\/a> served on the RPSEA Board of Directors.<\/p>\n

Kenderdine\u00a0now serves as one of Moniz\u2019s top aides<\/a>. While at MIT, she co-authored a\u00a0key \u201cfrackademia\u201d study titled, \u201cThe Future of Natural Gas\u201d<\/a>\u00a0– funded by Chesapeake Energy front group American Clean Skies Foundation \u2014 with fellow MIT\u00a0\u201cfrackademics\u201d Moniz<\/a>\u00a0and John Deutch. Oklahoma Secretary of Energy Mike Ming \u2014 who sat\u00a0on the Advisory Committee for the MIT study<\/a>\u00a0– is also\u00a0on the RPSEA Advisory Committee<\/a>.<\/p>\n

MIT frackademic and former CIA Director\u00a0John Deutch \u2014 who sits on the Board of Directors of gas export giant Cheniere Energy<\/a>\u00a0– served on the\u00a0industry-stacked Fracking Subcommittee<\/a>\u00a0formed in May 2011 by then-Secretary Steven Chu. He wasrecently named to serve on Secretary\u00a0<\/a>Moniz\u2019s\u00a0<\/a>Energy Advisory Committee<\/a>alongside fellow Fracking Subcommittee member Daniel Yergin.<\/p>\n

Secretary Moniz\u00a0recently named<\/a>\u00a0Paula Gant as his\u00a0Deputy Assistant Secretary for oil and natural gas. Gant most recently served as the American Gas Association\u2019s\u00a0Senior Vice President for Policy and Planning.<\/p>\n

RPSEA In-Action<\/strong><\/p>\n

Section 999 of the Energy Policy Action of 2005, under the auspices of RPSEA, hasfunded 23 unconventional oil and gas-related studies to-date<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In January 2013, University of Texas-Austin completed a RPSEA-funded study titled, \u201cEvaluation of Fracture Systems and Stress Fields Within the Marcellus Shale and Utica Shale and Characterization of Associated Water-Disposal Reservoirs: Appalachian Basin<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Four of the seven co-authors of the report –\u00a0Diana Sava<\/a>,\u00a0Donald E. Wagner<\/a>,\u00a0Robert J. Graebner<\/a>\u00a0and lead investigator\u00a0Bob A. Hardage<\/a>\u00a0– had oil and gas industry backgrounds before entering academia.<\/p>\n

Another illustrative RPSEA-funded study is titled, \u201cGeological Foundation for Production of Natural Gas from Diverse Shale Formations<\/a>.\u201d Published in July 2011, the study\u2019s lead investigator and sole author is Jack C. Pashin. Pashin is both the\u00a0Director of the Energy Investigations Program at the Geological Survey of Alabama<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Devon Petroleum Corporation Chair of Basin Research at Oklahoma State University<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yet another example: \u201cSustaining Fracture Area and Conductivity of Gas Shale Reservoirs for Enhancing Long-Term Production and Recovery<\/a>,\u201d a study co-published in May 2012 by a University of Texas A&M researcher and an employee of oil and gas services giant, Schlumberger.<\/p>\n

On top of funding studies, RPSEA also\u00a0endows fellowships and scholarships<\/a>\u00a0for\u00a0researchers based at University of Michigan, University of California,\u00a0Georgia Institute of Technology, Stanford University,\u00a0New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and\u00a0Georgia Institute of Technology, among other universities.<\/p>\n

RPSEA also\u00a0plays host to annual conferences<\/a>.\u00a0Kathryn \u201cKatie\u201d Klaber<\/a>, the\u00a0departing head of the\u00a0Marcellus Shale Coalition<\/a>\u00a0gas\u00a0lobbying powerhouse,\u00a0was a\u00a0featured speaker at RPSEA\u2019s 2012 annual conference<\/a>\u00a0held in the heart and soul of the Marcellus Shale basin: Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

The\u00a02013 conference featured a presentation<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0one of the original \u201cfrackademics,\u201d Pennsylvania State University\u2019s Terry Engelder<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Attendees of the 2012 RPSEA conference<\/a>\u00a0included representatives from Range Resources, Chesapeake Energy, EQT Production, Chevron, Halliburton, Encana, BP, Baker Hughes and other industry giants.\u00a02011<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a02010<\/a>\u00a0saw similarly prolific guest lists,\u00a0as did<\/a>\u00a0all\u00a0other previous<\/a>\u00a0years\u00a0dating back<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a02006<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Earning an \u201cF\u201d for \u201cFrackademia\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Section 999 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 says the Secretary of Energy \u201cshall carry out the activities under Section 999 to maximize the value of natural gas and other petroleum resources of the United States by increasing the supply of such resources.\u201d<\/p>\n

But for whose benefit?\u00a0First and foremost, for Big Oil and its investors.<\/p>\n

Some politicians have also found a way to enrich themselves, as well, via shrewd \u201cshalesmanship<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0Exhibit A: U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX).<\/p>\n

\u201cSince 2010, Hall has earned as much as $1 million from a company that holds mineral rights along the Barnett Shale,\u201d\u00a0explained the\u00a0Sunlight Foundation<\/em>\u00a0in a March 2013 article<\/a>. \u201cThe money was disclosed as dividends from a company called North & East Trading Co. (N&E).\u201d<\/p>\n

A September 2008 opinion piece written by Hall explains that he helped write Section 999, meaning he\u2019s now pulling a personal profit from the same legislation he helped to author.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year marks the culmination of a legislative project I spearheaded in the House, creating an R&D program to recover oil and natural gas from ultra-deepwater and other onshore terrains,\u201d\u00a0he wrote<\/a>. \u201cThis program was included in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and is being carried out through the Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America (RPSEA).\u201d<\/p>\n

The mission statement laid out in Section 999 doesn\u2019t allow for the dangers of fracking \u2014 ranging from\u00a0groundwater contamination<\/a>, to\u00a0air contamination<\/a>, towastewater injection-caused earthquakes<\/a>, to\u00a0gas pipeline explosions<\/a>,\u00a0to\u00a0climate change impacts of fracking<\/a>\u00a0– to be studied.<\/p>\n

So, it\u2019s an \u201cA+\u201d for the industry writing self-serving legislation. And an \u201cF\u201d for both \u201cfrackademia by law\u201d and to denote the failure to protect citizens from the negative impacts that unconventional oil and gas drilling will have for human health and ecosystems now and well into the future.<\/p>\n

Steve Horn<\/strong>\u00a0is a Madison, WI-based freelance investigative journalist and Research Fellow at\u00a0DeSmogBlog<\/a>, where this piece first appeared.<\/em><\/p>\n

…read more<\/a> <\/p>\n

Republished from: Counterpunch<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the school year starting for many this week, it\u2019s another year of academia for professors across the United States \u2014 and another year of \u201cfrackademia\u201d for an increasingly large swath of \u201cfrackademics\u201d under federal law. \u201cFrackademia\u201d is best defined as flawed but seemingly legitimate science and economic studies on the controversial oil and gas\u00a0horizontal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-65429","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-breaking-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65429\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}