John Rupp

Unconventional Gas Development in the USA: Exploring the Risk Perception Issues.

Unconventional gas development (UGD) is growing rapidly in the United States. Drawing on insights from risk perception and risk governance theories and recent public opinion surveys, we find that UGD is an emerging technology that is likely to be perceived as risky, even though objective risk assessments suggest that risks are low and controllable through best risk management practices. Perceived risk varies significantly depending on the state and locality but perceptions of risk appear to be increasing as the technology is used more widely in the United States and as organized opponents of the technology intensify their efforts. Risk perceptions are attenuated somewhat because of the perceived benefits of UGD and compensation schemes for individuals and communities. The types of triggering events necessary for large-scale social amplification and stigmatization have not yet occurred but awareness of UGD is growing and organized opposition has been sufficient to cause prohibitions of UGD in some U.S. states and localities. Additional directions for social science research on public reactions to UGD are recommended.

I Want In On That: Community-level Policies for Unconventional Gas Development in New York

We investigate geospatial and socio-demographic attributes that explain differences in community-level policies affecting unconventional gas development (UGD) in New York. We examine local policy decisions (i.e., municipal bans, moratoria, and pre-emptive resolutions supporting development) through ordered probit models and middle-inflated and zero-inflated ordered probits to account for communities without UGD policies and estimate a spatial ordered probit to address spatial correlations between communities decisions. Our findings suggest that New York communities near Pennsylvania UGD are more likely to support UGD. Communities that are predominantly Democrat or have more citizens who have bachelors degrees are more likely to adopt policies opposing UGD.

Early public impressions of terrestrial carbon capture and storage in a coal-intensive state.

While carbon capture and storage (CCS) is considered to be critical to achieving long-term climate-protection goals, public concerns about the CCS practice could pose significant obstacles to its deployment. This study reports findings from the first state-wide survey of public perceptions of CCS in a coal-intensive state, with an analysis of which factors predict early attitudes toward CCS. Nearly three-quarters of an Indiana sample (N = 1001) agree that storing carbon underground is a good approach to protecting the environment, despite 80% of the sample being unaware of CCS prior to participation in the two-wave survey. The majority of respondents do not hold strong opinions about CCS technology. Multivariate analyses indicate that support for CCS is predicted by a belief that humankind contributes to climate change, a preference for increased use of renewable energy, and egalitarian and individualistic worldviews, while opposition to CCS is predicted by self-identified political conservatism and by selective attitudes regarding energy and climate change. Knowledge about early impressions of CCS can help inform near-term technology decisions at state regulatory agencies, utilities, and pipeline companies, but follow-up surveys are necessary to assess how public sentiments evolve in response to image-building efforts with different positions on coal and CCS.

Unconventional Gas Development in the U.S. States: Exploring the Variation

This article examines the large interstate variation in levels of unconventional gas development in the U.S. states. The following hypotheses are advanced to predict whether a state will be predisposed toward development: (H 1 ) the availability of unconventional gas reserves; (H 2 ) the availability of infrastructure to support development; (H 3 ) a recent history of conventional oil and gas development; (H 4 ) Republican party control of the Governors office and state legislature; (H 5 ) relatively low sensitivity to environmental issues; (H 6 ) regulatory systems that treat UGD as a variant of conventional gas development; (H 7 ) a pressing need for economic benefits as indicated by state and local measures of household income, unemployment and poverty; (H 8 ) and public opinion supportive of development. To various degrees, each of the hypotheses is supported but important exceptions and surprises are uncovered in the qualitative and semi-quantitative analyses. Future research should continue the effort to explain the variation of development by expanding the geographical scope of inquiry and enlarging the sample of jurisdictions.

Determination of closed porosity in rocks by small-angle neutron scattering

Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) and ultra-small-angle neutron scattering (USANS) have been used to study a carbonate rock from a deep saline aquifer that is a potential candidate as a storage reservoir for CO2 sequestration. A new methodology is developed for estimating the fraction of accessible and inaccessible pore volume using SANS/USANS measurements. This method does not require the achievement of zero average contrast for the calculation of accessible and inaccessible pore volume fraction. The scattering intensity at high Q increases with increasing CO2 pressure, in contrast with the low-Q behaviour where the intensity decreases with increasing pressure. Data treatment for high-Q scattering at different pressures of CO2 is also introduced to explain this anomalous behaviour. The analysis shows that a significant proportion of the pore system consists of micropores (<20u2005A) and that the majority (80%) of these micropores remain inaccessible to CO2 at reservoir pressures.

Ordovician Knox Carbonates and Sandstones of the Eastern Mid-continent: Potential Geologic Carbon Storage Reservoirs and Seals

In response to rising concerns about atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels and likely regulations on emissions, investigations into geologic carbon storage options across the United States are underway. In the Midwest, Cambrian sandstones are major targets for potential geologic carbon storage. In some localities, the overlying Cambrian–Ordovician Knox Group is also being investigated as a possible target for primary and secondary storage of CO2. The thick dolomitic succession contains intervals that may function as both reservoirs and seals. Gas storage fields in Knox carbonates in Kentucky and Indiana demonstrate that methane can be safely stored in paleotopographic highs along the Knox unconformity surface. Numerous injection wells have also been completed in the Knox Group for brine disposal. More significantly, at least seven class 1 injection wells have used the Knox as all or part of a storage reservoir for industrial wastes. Many of these wells have injected millions of gallons of liquid waste annually into Knox reservoirs. The relative scale of these injection operations can be used to estimate the types and sizes of potential reservoirs within the Knox succession in the Midwest. Specific data on the Knox interval relative to its carbon storage and confining potential are currently being collected from wells drilled as part of U.S. Department of Energy administered carbon storage projects, as well as state-administered carbon storage programs. In this chapter, initial results of carbon storage tests are summarized from the Battelle 1 Duke Energy well, Kentucky Geological Survey 1 Blan well, Battelle-American Electric Power (AEP) 1 Mountaineer well, and Battelle-Ohio Geological Survey 1 CO2 well. The AEP Mountaineer Power Plant will host the nations first commercially integrated carbon capture and geologic storage project, and the storage reservoirs will be in the Knox Group. Because the Knox Group is widespread at depth across much of the Midwest, it will be an important part of sequestration programs as confining interval and reservoir.

Detailed crustal thickness variations beneath the Illinois Basin area: Implications for crustal evolution of the midcontinent

We present high-resolution imaging results of crustal and upper mantle velocity discontinuities across the Illinois Basin area using both Common Conversion Point stacking and Plane Wave Migration methods applied to P-wave receiver functions from the EarthScope OIINK (Ozark, Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky) experiment. The images reveal unusually thick crust (up to 62 km) throughout the central and southeastern Illinois Basin area. A significant Moho gradient underlies the NW-trending Ste. Genevieve Fault Zone, which delineates the boundary between the Illinois Basin and Ozark Dome. Relatively thinner crust (< 45 km) underlies most of the Precambrian highlands surrounding the Illinois basin and beneath the rift-related structures of the Reelfoot Rift and the Rough Creek Graben. We consider four hypotheses to explain the presence of thick crust under the central and southeastern Illinois Basin. Crustal thickening may have been produced: (1) prior to its accretion to North America around 1.55 Ga and is an inherited characteristic of this crustal province; (2) by underthrusting or shortening during Proterozoic convergent margin tectonics around 1.55 - 1.35 Ga; (3) by late Precambrian magmatic underplating at the base of older crust, associated with the creation of the Eastern Granite-Rhyolite Province around 1.3 Ga; and (4) through crustal “relamination” during an episode of Proterozoic flat-slab subduction beneath the Illinois Basin, possibly associated with the Grenville Orogeny.