Exponent Webinar Series

Hydraulic Fracturing:
What are the Key Engineering and Environmental Issues?

With the increasing demand for clean burning natural gas, complex and highly visible hydraulic fracturing (i.e., hydrofracking) operations have expanded into the vicinity of residential and ecologically sensitive areas. As a result, citizens, environmental groups, regulatory agencies, and state and federal legislatures have raised concerns regarding possible health and environmental effects associated with hydrofracking chemicals and their potential for leakage into drinking water aquifers or discharge after use to environmentally sensitive habitats. Concerns have also arisen about opening up pathways for migration of natural gas itself into drinking water wells.

In this 60 minute webinar, we will discuss, through several case studies, the engineering and environmental elements of hydrofracking. These include:

• Hydrofracking 101—what is it, how does it work, and where is it happening?
• Root-cause analysis of well construction failure and blowouts.
• Chemical fingerprinting and isotope analysis tools used to identify and track the source(s) of natural gas that may be present in residential water wells located within the vicinity of hydrofracking operations.
• Transport and environmental fate of the different hydrofracking fluid components if released to the environment and their ecological and human health risk.

We will also discuss the most recent regulatory actions (e.g., diesel hydrofracking permit guidelines). These issues represent the center of environmental concerns related to hydrofracking and are almost always brought up in property damage claims cases and in discussions with regulators. The webinar will feature three of Exponent's consultants on well construction design and environmental sciences who are actively engaged in hydrofracking related matters.

We look forward to you joining us!

WHEN

Wednesday, May 25, 2011
10:30 am PDT / 1:30 pm EDT

PRESENTERS

L. Brun Hilbert, Jr., Ph.D., P.E.
Principal Engineer,
Mechanical Engineering

Tarek Saba, Ph.D.
Senior Managing Scientist,
Environmental Sciences

Farrukh Mohsen, Ph.D., P.E.
Senior Managing Engineer,
Environmental Sciences

RECORDING

Click here to playback a recording of this webinar.

Webinar duration: approximately one hour

CLE

This webinar is approved for 1.0 CLE credit by the State Bar of California. All attendees will receive a certificate of attendance to use for individual applications to other states.