| Technology and innovative thinking, mainly during the past 15 years, have driven Pinedale field's development and unlocked a giant domestic energy resource in the United States. These techniques have benefitted all of the following: (1) the oil and gas industry, which through enhanced geologic understanding, better hydraulic fracturing techniques, reduced drilling times and improved operational efficiency has been able to convert what until the 1990s had been a subeconomic play unsuccessfully chased by dozens of companies into one of the most commercially successful fields; (2) wildlife, due to the well thought out regulations and field development plans that have led to geographically focused human and drilling activities and reduced habitat fragmentation; (3) the environment through water recycling, reduced noxious air emissions, and a network of pipelines for fluid transport; (4) safety by lowering the total recordable incidence rate through pad drilling, continuous operations, and long-term employment on the drill rigs; and (5) ultimately, the people of Wyoming through the millions of dollars spent for field development, the hundreds of jobs created both directly and indirectly by all the work done in the Pinedale field area, and the steady (and large!) stream of tax revenue that the field's production has provided to the state. | | Technology and innovative thinking, mainly during the past 15 years, have driven Pinedale field's development and unlocked a giant domestic energy resource in the United States. These techniques have benefitted all of the following: (1) the oil and gas industry, which through enhanced geologic understanding, better hydraulic fracturing techniques, reduced drilling times and improved operational efficiency has been able to convert what until the 1990s had been a subeconomic play unsuccessfully chased by dozens of companies into one of the most commercially successful fields; (2) wildlife, due to the well thought out regulations and field development plans that have led to geographically focused human and drilling activities and reduced habitat fragmentation; (3) the environment through water recycling, reduced noxious air emissions, and a network of pipelines for fluid transport; (4) safety by lowering the total recordable incidence rate through pad drilling, continuous operations, and long-term employment on the drill rigs; and (5) ultimately, the people of Wyoming through the millions of dollars spent for field development, the hundreds of jobs created both directly and indirectly by all the work done in the Pinedale field area, and the steady (and large!) stream of tax revenue that the field's production has provided to the state. |