Activities

Global review of impacts of unconventional oil and gas development on groundwater resources

A subcommittee of the commission is currently conducting a review of impacts of oil and gas development on groundwater resources. This review is comparing and contrasting the impacts of different types of oil and gas development including but not limited to conventional and unconventional oil and gas and coal seam gas. This subcommittee currently consists of:

Grant Ferguson, University of Saskatchewan, Canada

Bridget Scanlon, Univ. of Texas at Austin, USA

Jennifer McIntosh, University of Arizona, USA

Wendy Timms, Deakin University, Australia

Data and case studies are currently focused on North America and Australia. Anyone interested in contributing data or experiences from other regions should contact Grant Ferguson at grant.ferguson@usask.ca. We expect to publish one or more papers from this project in Hydrogeology Journal.

New Initiatives

The committee is currently looking to support new initiatives. Past meetings have indicated a strong interest in geothermal energy and we hope to develop a project in that area. Other suggestions are welcome.