AskChesapeake

Employees deliver donated office supplies to Providence
House’s Working to Learn program.

Last month, environmentally conscious Louisianans counted themselves among the more than 1 billion people who participated in Earth Day-related activities.

Officially held on April 22, Earth Day marks the largest civic observance in the world and aims to increase awareness of environmental issues and celebrate milestones of green stewardship.

In conjunction with other statewide festivities, the City of Shreveport, Louisiana, hosted a special event to highlight city initiatives that have conserved energy and preserved the environment. Chesapeake Energy Corporation’s compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles were on display next to the city’s public transit buses, refuse trucks and para-transit vans all against the background of Shreveport’s CNG fueling station.

“I’m proud to lead a city that sees the intrinsic value in taking proactive steps to protect the environment not only for ourselves but also for future generations,” said Shreveport Mayor Cedric Glover. “In Shreveport we have an impressive team of folks, both in the public and private sector, who are actively engaged in this campaign on a daily basis, and I believe we’re making a positive difference to preserve our future.”

In addition to participating in the city’s celebration, Chesapeake employees across the company participated in Green Cleaning Week, an opportunity to “green clean” their offices and copy rooms by gathering unused or gently used office supplies for recycling or donation to organizations in need.

In the Haynesville Shale, employees donated notepads, pens, binders and other office supplies to the Providence House, a short-term transitional housing program that utilizes an individualized support program focusing on education, child care, parenting, money management and life skills development.

“A major component of breaking the cycle of homelessness is education. Our “Working to Learn” program provides an opportunity for clients to focus solely on gaining a GED to provide for their families,” said Simone Hennessee, Executive Director of Providence House. “This donation of supplies takes an additional burden off our organization and our clients as they are given access to everyday tools that allow them to learn and succeed.”

Since concern for the environment is more than a monthly celebration at Chesapeake, the company focuses on a number of year-round efforts to support green initiatives such as the Bossier Parish Clean and Green Campus awards where the most well-maintained campus wins funds to further improve its grounds and operational efforts to reduce emissions and environmental impact. You can learn more about Chesapeake’s environmental initiatives and focuses on the environment section of chk.com.

From Bossier to Sabine, a new study tells the positive impact
development of the Haynesville Shale has had on individual
Northwest Louisiana parishes.

The impact of the development of the Haynesville Shale has been far reaching. From drastically increasing the national supply of natural gas to creating a manufacturing building boom in South Louisiana, Haynesville Shale production has changed the country’s energy future — but what about closer to home in the Louisiana parishes experiencing the most activity?

In 2012 the Center for Business and Economic Research at LSU Shreveport began research on the impact of the Haynesville on a parish-by-parish basis. From countless business surveys, analysis of governmental infrastructure spending and economic profiles of a five-parish area, the study concluded what most have known — the shale has been good to Northwest Louisiana.

• Bossier Parish
  - Total personal income increased 20.5% from 2007 to 2010, a growth directly related to employment opportunities and royalty income offered by Haynesville Shale development.
  - Since 2007 the parish has seen a 31% increase in total places of employment.
• Caddo Parish
  - Median household income increased 6.2% from 2007 to 2010.
  - As a result of shale activity, Caddo Parish experienced an increase in spending on projects in the non-residential sector, including office/bank buildings, schools/colleges, streets/highways, bridges and river development.
• DeSoto Parish
  - Non-residential construction projects increased 250% from 2007 to 2011.
  - Since 2007 the total number of places of employment increased 12.6% for all industries in the parish.
• Red River Parish
  - The parish’s total civilian labor force increased 8.4% from 2007 to 2011.
  - Since 2007 the parish saw increases in overall average annual employment (9.9%), average annual wages (35.2%) and places of employment (5.8%).
• Sabine Parish
  - There was one non-residential construction project in 2007 with a value of $1.4 million. In 2011 there were three non-residential construction projects with a total value of $3 million.
  - The parish experienced a 214.7% increase in total retail sales from 2007 to 2011.

The construction of Houma, Louisiana’s, first CNG station is
one of many expanding benefits of shale development.

Louisiana has come a long way since development of the Haynesville Shale natural gas play began in 2008 and the state began positioning itself as a leader in natural gas usage. In just five years, Louisiana has seen numerous facilities relocating to the state to gain access to abundant supplies of natural gas. It has also grown from a few scattered public compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling stations to more than 12, with others in construction – now allowing folks can travel the state on only CNG.

A recent example of this growth can be found in Gaubert Oil Company’s CNG fueling station, which broke ground this month in Terrebonne Parish. Connecting the production of natural gas in northern Louisiana to use in the southern part of the state, this Houma, Louisiana, station is set to open its pumps in September. It will offer fueling for light-, medium- and heavy-duty vehicles at approximately less than half the price of traditional gasoline or diesel.

“We see an ever increasing demand for CNG to be used as a transportation fuel now and into the future,” said Gaubert Oil Company’s Grady Gaubert. “Many trucks, buses, delivery vehicles, municipalities and other commercial companies are noticing the advantages of switching their vehicles to CNG and realizing substantial savings in fuel costs compared to traditional gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles.”

Although far from the core of the Haynesville, St. James Parish, Louisiana, is seeing the benefits of shale gas in the form of Nucor Corp, the most valuable U.S. steelmaker. The manufacturer has begun construction on a $750 million iron-making facility that, when completed by the end of 2013, will create 150 permanent Nucor jobs and usher in the first of five phases of plant development.

The 2.5 million tons-per-year facility will convert natural gas and iron ore pellets into high-quality direct reduced iron (DRI) to produce steel products. The last DRI plant left the U.S. in 2009, and Nucor’s investment represents what will be the second-largest such facility in the world.

“Affordable American shale gas has completely changed the economics for us,” said Katherine Miller, a Nucor spokeswoman.​​

Tax revenue and business development related to the Haynesville Shale is having a significant economic impact for Louisiana parishes, which means improved public facilities and a richer economy. Although new drilling activity has slowed, producing wells continue to generate income for mineral rights owners, and our operations will contribute taxes and jobs for decades to come.

“DeSoto Parish has been able to fund a multitude of projects including a new park, new hanger at the airport and approximately 150 miles of road reconstruction,” said Steve Brown, Parish Administrator.