Senator gets education on natural gas industry in Southwest region

CLINTWOOD — After U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine toured the Ridgeview high and middle schools construction site Wednesday afternoon, he received a little schooling himself — on natural gas extraction in the area.

Kaine was joined by a small group of county and school division leaders during his tour of the Ridgeview site on Rose Ridge, where being built is a multi-million project that will consolidate Dickenson County’s high and middle schools and career center.

Impressed with the project, Kaine said he looks forward to visiting the school once it’s open.

Following the construction tour, Kaine visited Range Resources’ office in the Dickenson County Industrial Park.

Kaine, who says he’s a “fan of the natural gas revolution,” included the Range Resources stop so he could learn more about the company’s Virginia operations. The senator noted the importance of natural gas to meeting future energy needs.

Jerry Grantham, Range’s vice president of its Southern Appalachian Division, and Benny Wampler, a Range consultant and one-time DMME deputy director, sat down with Kaine to talk about Range’s interests in the Nora fields, touching upon the importance of natural gas to energy production and new technology in the field.

Until earlier this year, Range owned 50 percent interest in EQT’s assets in the Nora field. In June, Range acquired through an asset swap all of EQT’s interest in the field and took over operations of all wells and pipelines. Range acquired 125,000 net acres for a total of 350,000 net acres in Virginia.

Grantham explained that the Nora field allows Range to drill gas at multiple layers — including coal bed methane, tight gas and Devonian shale — allowing for optimal development.

Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing have allowed companies to access shale-based natural gas that was previously untapped.

When asked by Kaine about their thoughts on the federal regulatory process for the industry, Grantham and Wampler said they believe regulations should be at the state level.

A one-size-fits-all approach simply doesn’t work, Grantham noted, in part because the geology from state to state is different.

For instance, the “fracking” process used locally in Virginia uses mostly nitrogen or a mix of nitrogen and a relatively small amount of water, instead of mostly water as in some areas of the country.

Kaine kicked off his three-day tour at Lincoln Memorial University’s College of Veterinary Medicine in Ewing, followed by a visit to Mountain Empire Community College’s workforce training facilities in Big Stone Gap.

On Thursday morning, he was scheduled to be in Lebanon to participate in a training session Project REVIVE, a program aimed at reducing drug overdose deaths. He also planned to attend the Thursday Jams Concert at Abingdon Farmers Market Pavilion, then finish the three-day tour on Friday with a Bristol Compressors tour.

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