respectmyplanet.org

RMP has been tracking hydrogen infrastructure since 2008. We are the only environmental organization in Michigan keeping you in the know about sustainable hydrogen for over 15 years! While our interactive North American H2 Infrastructure Map is the most detailed and comprehensive map/database on the internet, it was not hooked up to California’s SOSS which tracks real time statuses of the approximately 60 stations selling retail hydrogen to the California public market. It seemed like a fun project to read & record the server outputs and make a cool real time map and some cool summarized tracking pages. You can check in on any station in California at any time. Know before you go. Bookmark the map or your favorite stations’ homepages on your phone. Check out some images of our portfolio of real time pages. Click on any image to go to the real time page displayed.

respectmyplanet.org is a Michigan based 501(c)3 organization dedicated to water conservation.   We monitor energy production, industrial waste management, municipal waste management, and agriculture to make sure our fresh water resources are protected.

We live in a complex world that demands energy, chemicals, and food.  The production of energy and manufacturing of products, chemicals, and food can put our fresh water resources at risk.  We monitor these industrial processes and their waste streams to help help educate the public about how to develop and maintain a sustainable economy.  RMP advocates for a prosperous economy that protects our fresh water and  the air we breathe.

RMP is small non-profit that maintains large GIS data sets on energy production assets, energy infrastructure assets, industrial pollution locations & environmental remediation locations.  We curate and supplement public GIS data to fit into our mapping software and bring it to life.  We make gigabytes of GIS data interactive through a Google Map. RMP users can login to add geo-specific media to our map locations.  Add photos, videos, news links, and pdf files to a location’s homepage to keep a history on that location for yourself or for other users to learn from.  Each location on RMP’s interactive maps has it’s own ‘facebook’ style page or homepage where you can document important information about that location’s environmental profile or energy production profile.

RMP’s has rich GIS datasets of featuring our North American Hydrogen Infrastructure map, our Real Time Hydrogen Refueling Station Status map, an interactive map of Ann Arbor’s Dioxane 1,4 Plume remediation, a Global Map of all LNG Liquefaction & Regasification facilities and coming soon, our North American Lithium Ion Battery Supply Chain map.  All of these cool interactive maps bring interesting energy & remediation data to life allowing anyone with an internet connection to learn about sustainable energy and environmental remediation.

RMP uses all our data to help contribute to the public domain.  RMP aims to give the public access to free and insightful energy infrastructure information and environmental remediation information.  RMP also works to debunk misleading information about how energy works.  Check out our written articles about energy and remediation, our videos explaining how energy and environmental remediation works, and our map library that is powered by Michigan made software.  RMP’s maps are backed by gigabytes of interesting GIS data we have been gathering, refining, and anlayzing for over 15 years.

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RMP got it’s start tracking Michigan Oil & Gas when High Volume Hydraulic Fracturing came to Michigan in 2008. RMP has detailed maps of every HFHF Well along with pictures chronicling the construction of the wells. Those maps are currently offline, but will be restored some day if RMP can ever get any funding for those projects. But, tons of articles and information from our days publishing the Michigan Oil & Gas Monthly magazine remain as well as other educational materials on Michigan oil & gas. Check out some of the articles, galleries, and information below and let us know if you have any questions on Michigan Oil & Gas. RMP is Michigan’s leading non-profit authority on ground water contamination, hydraulic fracturing history, oil & gas production information, and the Michigan oil patch in general.

RMP got it’s start with the “Stop Fracking” movement in Michigan in 2008. When HVHF came to Michigan in 2008 when Encana started using over 10,000,000 gallons of Michigan freshwater to frack a single well. RMP was basically born at that moment. We started as a small group of volunteers that needed to know what HVHF was and how our fresh water was being protected or abused. Because the technology of horizontal drilling and high volumes of water for completion was so novel to Michigan oil & gas exploration, it was a slap in the face to citizens to hear “we’ve been doing this for years”. In a way, RMP’s small group of volunteers was forced to analyze information and monitor activity to really know how to differentiate facts from fiction. We learned what we thought was true: we hadn’t been doing this for years as we’ve been told, HVHF was completely different than conventional completions. While an Antrim frack consumes about 50,000 gallons of water on average, a 10M gallon completion consumes 200x more water. These were unprecedented amounts of water being withdrawn. HVHF compared to an Antrim well was like saying a bat and blue whale are the same thing because they’re both mammals. Through RMP’s on the scene reporting during construction of these massive well pads and during the HVHF completion process, RMP discovered the Westerman well completion (Michigan’s last HVHF completion) emptied the water table and ran it dry. RMP’s data driven sleuthwork determined two other wells ran the ground dry during the HVHF boom also.

By using Michigan public data to review all of Michigan’s over 65,000 well ids and putting that data on the map, RMP got to learn about Michigan’s oil & gas history and its current state of play. By 2013, the “majors” like Encana, Marathon, Chevron, and Devon were giving up on Michigan’s Collingwood formation as a producer. The Westerman 1-32HD1 was the last HVHF well drilled in early 2013 and completed in the late spring of 2013. RMP’s top volunteer Neo was on the scene of all 57 HVHF wells drilled in Michigan from 2008 to 2013. He was getting deep into the woods to get pictures of everything and provided on-the-ground insight that no other environmental organization in Michigan could provide. By the summer of 2013, RMP’s five year crash course of a journey to understand Michigan’s oil & gas industry was coming to an end as Halliburton’s HVHF equipment rolled off the Westerman pad in June of 2013. RMP was the first to announce to the other “Stop Fracking” groups that the majors would never be back to Michigan. We knew, because we put in the work to understand how the oil & gas industry works. It’s been over 10 years and the majors have not come back Michigan just as RMP predicted. Some “Stop Fracking” groups held on for another year or so because they never really got into the data like RMP did. To us, It was simple: if there was no pay day for the oil & gas companies, they would leave Michigan; and that’s exactly what they did. If the Collingwood could produce like the Marcellus, the majors would have never left Michigan, despite any “Stop Fracking” groups efforts.

In the years that have passed since 2013, RMP has stopped hosting our Michigan Oil & Gas database. We would like to get that data back up on the web again in the future but we are a very small organization with zero funding. There is still a Michigan oil & gas industry to cover, but it is in decline. There are 100s and 100s of active wells in Michigan of various types. There are oil wells, natural gas wells, brine disposal wells, and natural gas storage wells. There are also thousands of dry holes which are attempts drillers made hoping to hit pay dirt but missed. What is important now, is making sure abandoned wells in Michigan (call “orphan” wells) get properly plugged & abandoned in order to protect Michigan’s fresh water.

When RMP brings back our Michigan oil & gas maps, we will be focusing on Gas Storage as Michigan consistently ranks in the top 5 states for natural gas storage with about 1.1Tcf of storage capacity (about 25% of U.S. storage capacity). Most Michigan storage wells are drilled into the Michigan Stray formation. The Michigan Stray Formation is part of the Upper Devonian period and is located within a geologically rich area that covers most of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. The formation is typically found at depths ranging from 2,000 to 4,000 feet. The Stray Formation primarily consists of porous sandstone, which is highly permeable and allows for the efficient injection and withdrawal of natural gas. The formation is often interbedded with shales and other sedimentary rocks, providing natural sealing layers that help contain the gas within the storage reservoir. The Stray Formation was originally developed for natural gas production. Over time, as the natural gas reserves in the formation were depleted, it became an ideal candidate for conversion into a gas storage reservoir.

The Michigan Stray Formation is a cornerstone of natural gas storage in Michigan, and its favorable geological characteristics make it a preferred target for storage wells. Its high porosity and permeability, coupled with natural geological seals and a history of natural gas production, provide an ideal environment for storing large volumes of natural gas. This, along with Michigan’s strategic location and seasonal demand patterns, explains why more natural gas storage wells target the Stray Formation than any other formation in the region. The Niagaran formation and Salina formation are also important objective formations for natural gas storage in Michigan.

RMP’s only ambitions remaining related to Michigan oil & gas is to understand how our gas storage plays a role in our energy security and making sure all wells drilled in Michigan are properly plugged to protect our drinking water. RMP will always consider water more valuable than oil.

RMP started tracking global LNG in 2011 when FERC approved Cheniere to export LNG from Sabine Pass. We wrote about the details of this significant event in American energy history in 2015 just before Cheniere’s first liquefaction train went online. RMP and our volunteers had been studying oil & gas and learning about this industry in earnest since 2008 when HVHF came to Michigan. The LNG export concept in America was part of the HVHF boom that completely changed America’s deficit position in natgas to a surplus position in as little as two decades. In 2005, the USA was building regasification LNG facilities anticipating natgas shortages. The horiztonal drilling and high volume hydraulic fracturing that RMP was reporting on since 2008, was fundamentally changing America’s position in energy production.

Majors like Chesapeake and Haliburton were tapping into large natural gas reservoirs like the Permian Basin in Texas, the Marcellus Shale in the Appalachian Basin, the Bakken Shale in North Dakota & Montana, and the Montney & Durvernay formations in Canada. High Volume Hydraulic fracturing well completion techniques and horizontal drilling perfected by companies like Halliburton, Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, EOG/Enron, Chesapeake, Range Reources, Anadarko, and more changed the world’s oil & gas industry from 2005 to 2015. In as little as a decade, the USA was awash in more natural gas than it could distribute. RMP made this exclusive global LNG facility map in 2015 showing every LNG facility in the world. RMP launched our LNG map just before Cheniere sent their 1st cargo which makes RMP’s global map about 10 years old.

The boom in high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) across the Permian Basin, the Marcellus Shale, and in Canada profoundly transformed the North American natural gas market. The timeline of natural gas pipeline and liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility development in North America closely mirrors this production surge, as infrastructure had to be expanded rapidly to transport and export the newfound surplus. Here’s a recap of the LNG timeline as it relates to North America’s enormous boom in natgas and an overview of how these developments unfolded from 2005 to the present:

2000-2005: Prelude to the Boom

• HVHF Development: Before the widespread adoption of HVHF, North America’s natural gas production was relatively stable, with conventional drilling techniques providing steady, but unremarkable, outputs. However, the early 2000s saw advances in horizontal drilling and HVHF by players like Halliburton, which allowed producers to unlock vast quantities of natural gas trapped in shale formations.
• Initial Infrastructure: At this time, the infrastructure for natural gas distribution—mainly pipelines—was designed to handle the modest production levels from conventional gas fields. The infrastructure was concentrated in areas with a long history of gas production, like the Gulf Coast and Appalachia.

2005-2010: The (HVHF) Fracturing Boom Begins

• Shale Plays and Surplus: The Marcellus Shale in the Appalachian Basin, the Permian Basin in Texas, and the Montney and Duvernay formations in Canada emerged as major sources of natural gas. By 2008, production from the Marcellus Shale, in particular, surged, quickly leading to a surplus of natural gas in the market. 2008 is when Canada’s Encana and Houston based Halliburton started fracking Kalkaska county Michigan. RMP was born as a water watchdog non-profit organization as soon as Canada’s Encana was using over 23 million gallons of Michigan freshwater to frack the Collingwood formation.
• Price Decline: The sudden increase in supply led to a significant drop in natural gas prices in North America. By 2009, the U.S. had become the world’s largest natural gas producer, but the existing infrastructure struggled to handle the volumes, leading to bottlenecks and price differentials between regions.
• Pipeline Investment Begins: The oil & gas industry recognized the need for expanded pipeline infrastructure to transport gas from these new production hubs to demand centers and export points. This period saw the beginning of several pipeline projects, like the Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) and expansions in the Northeast, to alleviate regional bottlenecks.

2010-2015: Infrastructure Expansion and LNG Export Development

• Pipeline Expansion: As HVHF continued to unlock more natural gas, pipeline companies began investing heavily in new infrastructure. Key projects included:
  • Northeast: Expansion of pipelines like the Constitution Pipeline and the Atlantic Sunrise Project to transport Marcellus Shale gas to East Coast markets.
  • Gulf Coast: Pipelines like the Gulf Coast Express were developed to move Permian Basin gas to the Gulf Coast, where demand for exports and petrochemical feedstock was rising.
• LNG Export Terminals: With the U.S. producing more gas than it could consume domestically, attention turned to global markets. Cheniere Energy recognized the opportunity early and began transforming its Sabine Pass terminal, initially built as an LNG import facility, into the first LNG export terminal in the U.S. Click here to read RMP’s 2015 intro into LNG in this story about Cheniere.
  • 2011 – FERC authorizes Cheniere to export LNG from Sabine Pass
  • 2012 – Construction begins on the liquefaction facilities at Sabine Pass
  • 2015 – RMP creates (exclusive) GIS database & map of all LNG facilities across the world
  • 2016 – First LNG export cargo from the contiguous U.S. departed from Sabine Pass, marking a major milestone in the U.S. becoming a global LNG exporter.

2015-2020: Continued Infrastructure Buildout and Export Growth

• Permian Basin Production Surge: The Permian Basin’s natural gas production soared, driven by associated gas from oil drilling. This created a need for even more pipeline capacity to the Gulf Coast, leading to projects like the Permian Highway Pipeline and Whistler Pipeline.
• LNG Terminals Proliferation: Following the success of Sabine Pass, other LNG export terminals were developed, including:
  • Cameron LNG in Louisiana.
  • Corpus Christi LNG in Texas (also by Cheniere).
  • Freeport LNG in Texas.
• Canada’s LNG Ambitions: In Canada, the development of LNG export facilities also gained momentum, particularly on the West Coast, with projects like LNG Canada in Kitimat, BC, moving forward to take advantage of Asian markets.

2020-Present: The Maturation of the Market

• Infrastructure Realignment: As production has matured, the focus has shifted to optimizing existing infrastructure, with projects like the expansion of the REX pipeline for reverse flow and enhancing connectivity between different pipeline networks.
• LNG as a Global Player: The U.S. has solidified its position as a top LNG exporter, with several more terminals either under construction or planned. This includes the expansion of existing facilities and new projects like the Golden Pass LNG terminal in Texas.
• Environmental Considerations: The rapid expansion of natural gas infrastructure has also led to increased scrutiny from environmental groups and regulatory bodies, influencing the pace and nature of new developments.

Summary of Key Developments:

1. 2005-2010: HVHF unlocks vast natural gas reserves, leading to a surplus.
2. 2010-2015: Major pipeline and LNG export terminal investments begin, with Cheniere’s Sabine Pass being a critical first mover in LNG exports.
3. 2015-2020: Continued buildout of pipelines and LNG terminals to handle the increasing supply, especially from the Permian Basin.
4. 2020-Present: The U.S. becomes a global leader in LNG exports, with a mature and optimized infrastructure network supporting the industry.

This timeline illustrates the rapid and transformative impact of HVHF on North America’s natural gas infrastructure, turning the continent from a potential natural gas importer to a key global exporter in just over a decade.

Check out RMP’s:

1. Map of all LNG facilities across the globe.
2. RMP’s homepage for our LNG map where articles, videos, links, and stats about the map are easily found. RMP writes about different LNG plants, the industry at large, and tracks shipping information through energy.gov’s natural gas imports & exports page.