// Tonight at 6:00 PST, Alex Epstein will participate in a panel discussion on “Fracking the Monterey Shale” at UC Berkeley, as part of the Berkeley Energy and Resources Collaborative’s (BERC) “Energy Week 2013” (Oct. 8-11). The question posed to the panel is: “What Does the Monterey Shale Mean for California’s Energy Future?”
From the BERC site:
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, California’s Monterey Shale may hold as much as 15 billion barrels of oil, or more than 64% of all recoverable shale oil reserves in the United States. That’s more than four times the Bakken Shale in North Dakota, where shale oil production has shot North Dakota up to the 2nd most oil producing state in the nation.
Many are concerned, however, that potential environmental, health, and safety impacts might result from developing the Monterey Shale—a shale formation that may require fracking and/or [other] oil stimulation techniques, including one known as “acidizing.” Moreover, they are concerned about what the Monterey Shale might mean for California’s ability to live up to its pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions embodied in historic Assembly Bill 32. What is California to do?
Come join us for a panel discussion—with panelists from across the spectrum of environmental and energy development perspectives—that will address these questions. The panel discussion will be followed by a Q&A with members of the audience.
The other panelists are Bill Allayaud, California Director of Government Affairs for the Environmental Working Group; Robert Collier of Next Generation, and former visiting scholar at Berkeley’s Center for Environmental Public Policy; and Tupper Hull, Vice President of Strategic Communications at the Western States Petroleum Association.
To attend the event live, go here for more information, and to register.
Alex Epstein recently appeared on a similar panel debate on NPR, with representatives from the Sierra Club and the National Resource Defense Council. You can listen to that discussion here.
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