America’s energy and manufacturing future is undergoing a dramatic and game-changing shift driven by new access to unprecedented quantities of domestic natural gas. This new access is being driven by newsworthy and often misunderstood technologies such as hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling.

The vast amounts of natural gas (and oil shale) that can be commercially produced using these technologies will forever reshape America’s energy future, reduce dependence on foreign sources of energy, drastically cut the cost of energy and natural gas-based feedstocks, and significantly grow energy industry demand for raw materials and manufactured products.

Please consider joining us on Tuesday, October 23rd as Kelley Drye’s Environmental & Energy and Government Relations practice groups gather government and industry leaders at the Reagan Building and International Trade Center to discuss important issues surrounding the increased production of natural gas in the U.S. and its implications for US manufacturers and energy consumers. Vast amounts of natural gas (and oil shale) have the potential to reshape America’s energy future, reduce dependence on foreign sources of energy, drastically cut the cost of energy and natural gas-based feedstocks, and significantly grow energy industry demand for raw materials and manufactured products.

Kelley Drye’s half-day seminar will give participants an understanding of the myths and realities surrounding hydraulic fracturing and the economic and industrial implications of the natural gas boom.

Our first panel will provide a landscape discussion of the technology behind hydraulic fracturing, horizontal drilling, and the extraction of natural gas (and oil) from source rock. The panel will discuss the myths and realities of the environmental and societal impacts of natural gas drilling, provide an overview of the existing and emerging natural gas plays in the U.S. as well as an understanding of the amount of economically recoverable natural gas in the United States. This panel will include Rep. Jim Keffer, the Texas state legislator who proposed and passed the first fracking disclosure law, and Richard Ranger, Senior Policy Advisor at the American Petroleum Institute (API).
The second panel of the day will discuss the economic and societal impacts of increased domestic gas production - with a focus on manufacturers benefitting from a thriving domestic natural gas industry because of increased availability of natural gas as a feedstock, increased sales into the energy industry, and decreased energy costs. Sarah Magruder Lyle of America’s Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA) will lead a discussion with Steven J. Adelkoff, CFO of Aither Chemicals, and President of Pittsburgh’s Renewable Manufacturing Gateway, Douglas Polk, Vice President of V&M Star, a leading producer of steel pipe and tube, Eric Planey, Vice President of Vice-President of International Business Attraction at the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber in Ohio, and Tim Dickson , Executive Director of Oil and Natural Gas Industry Labor Management Committee.

Hydraulic Fracturing, Natural Gas and the U.S. Manufacturing Renaissance