West Virginia University Announces Launch of Field Laboratory for the Long-Term Study of Shale Gas Production Operations
West Virginia University recently announced that it will be establishing the “Marcellus Shale Energy and Environment Laboratory,” at a site in the Morgantown Industrial Park near the WVU campus. The laboratory is being funded as part of a five-year, $11 million agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy and will be operated in conjunction with the DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (that has long had a presence in Morgantown) and Charleston-based natural gas producer Northeast Natural Energy, LLC. Timothy Carr, WVU Professor of Geology, will be the Director of the new lab, which will also benefit from contributions by faculty with Ohio State University’s Subsurface Energy Resource Center. The primary goal of the new lab is to undertake a comprehensive, long-term study of the environmental and other aspects of the extraction of shale gas resources, focusing on the precise measurement of various parameters and developing best operating practices based on their research.