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Wednesday, October 15, 2008
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Click through to watch the League of Conservation Voters TV spot highlighting John McCain's desire to renegotiate the Colorado River, from Colorado Pols.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"2008 pres"
6:37:32 AM 
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Here's a look at directional drilling for oil and gas, from 9News.com. From the article:
The buzz term these days, for both energy companies and conservationists alike is "minimizing footprint." In short, it means drilling more wells using fewer rigs. To do that, companies are relying on "directional drilling."
Unlike older rigs that had to drill straight down, the new generation can reach out, drilling horizontally, then vertically. They're able to send a shaft out a mile, then down another two miles to hit a 25-foot round target area of gas. Like a piece of wet spaghetti, put enough length on the pipe and it will allow an extraordinary amount of flex. Now rigs can drill in multiple directions, reaching more gas, without having to build more pads to support the drilling rig. Where there used to be 20 feet between wells and only about four wells per pad, companies can get 14 to 22 wells per pad. Less pads mean a lot less impact on the environment.
Bigger companies like Encana and Williams now use a system of pipes to move thousands of gallons of fluids between central facilities and the well sites. This eliminates the need for unsightly permanent storage tanks to collect the oil, gas and water that comes out of every producing well. It also eliminates the need to truck huge quantities of drilling fluids to well sites, which according to Encana spokesman Byron Gales, is a "win for the air, for the wildlife and the landscape." Encana and other bigger companies are also moving toward cleaner operating drilling rigs powered by natural gas.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"cc"
6:32:38 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/15/09; 2:43:08 PM.
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