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The New York viewpoint is in accordance with the spirit and letter of up-to-date public utility regulation and recognizes the inherent characteristics and natural limitations of the natural gas industry, and that usable service to a limited number is better than poor or no service to a large number. This New York viewpoint is the just and equitable one to apply to all new service extension problems, as well as to the inevitable problem that will arise in the near future, of limiting or discontinuing the service entirely in certain localities, because the available supply as furnished by nature will not permit the continuance of a usable service to all.

WASTE AND CONSERVATION OF NATURAL GAS.

DEFINITION OF CONSERVATION.1

True conservation is not hoarding, but the wise use of natural resources, and it implies not merely the preserving in unimpaired efficiency, but also a wise and equitable exhaustion with a maximum efficiency and a minimum waste. The heart of the natural gas conservation problem is the conflict between the present and the future. The individual land owner is interested primarily only in immediate present personal returns. That is, he is thoughtless and indifferent with respect to the future. The public-at least the 2,000,000 domestic natural gas consumers and the 10,000,000 people dependent on natural gas for their cooking, heating, and lighting purposes-are interested in conserving the supply and bringing about a slow, wise, and economical exhaustion, so as to insure continuity of service for the future.

Conservation, therefore, demands intensive rather than extensive use, takes cognizance of equitable distribution, aims to bring about social justice, and means the greatest good to the greatest numberand that for the longest time.

EXTENT OF WASTE.

Most of the supply and service problems of to-day are the inevitable result of waste in producing and handling natural gas. The annual reports of the conservation committee of the Natural Gas Association of America are stinging indictments of a criminal system, fostered by both the gas companies and the public, that has resulted in wasting more gas than has ever been utilized. The following expert opinions further reflect this appalling situation:

The history of the natural gas industry of the United States is an appalling record of incredible waste, but it must be told, in order to explain the need for the remedies proposed.2~

1 Phraseology suggested by Prof. C. R. Van Hise's The Conservation of Natural Resources in the United States, and Prof. Richard T. Ely's Conservation and Economic Theory. Trans. Amer. Inst. Min. Eng., vol. 54, p. 458.

2 Technical Paper 38, United States Bureau of Mines, Waste in the Production and Utilization of Natural Gas and Means for their prevention.

In my own State of West Virginia only eight years ago not less than 500,000,000 cubic feet of this precious gas was daily escaping into the air from two counties alone, practically all of which was easily preventable by a moderate expenditure for additional casing.1

Of all the pieces of extravagance of which the American people have been guilty, perhaps their reckless and wasteful use of natural gas is the most striking-not the most important-but the most striking. This product, severely limited in quantity, which can last only a few years at most, has been handled by us as if it were illimitable."

In reference to natural gas, the great and pressing necessity is to stop its appalling waste by enacting and enforcing proper legislation. This ideal fuel should be used with the severest economy in order to prolong its life, which will be brief at best.3

Had the pioneer far-reaching waste eliminating recommendations of Dr. Edward Orton, State geologist of Ohio, and Dr. I. C. White, State geologist of West Virginia, been heeded, most of the acute natural gas service problems of to-day would not exist.

SPECIFIC FORMS OF WASTE.

The various forms of waste may be grouped under drilling, well operation, transmission, and utilization operations.

DRILLING WASTES.

1. Not closing wells promptly.-Much gas is wasted on account of delay in closing wells, caused primarily by poor judgment and failure to supply material promptly. In many cases the rock pressure over quite a district has been materially lowered by the delay in closing promptly a single large well in that section.

2. Improper casing.-There is much underground waste by improper casing methods which allow gas or water to migrate from their original strata into other strata. This is an especially important feature in the West Virginia fields, where in many instances several gas-bearing formations are superimposed with intervening barren formations.

3. Waste of gas to air.-As a result of improper casing methods gas frequently works up around the packer or into the casing above the packer and is wasted in the air.

4. Gas waste in well-drilling boilers.-Most gas burning, appliances used in well-drilling boilers are crude and inefficient, and the gas is handled as if it had practically no value and were of little use to other people.

5. Waste of gas in torches.-A large number of open flame (flambeaux) torches are still in use. Not only is this an inefficient and

1 I. C. White, State geologist of West Virginia. Address at conference on conservation of natural resources, May 13, 1908.

2 C. R. Van Hise's The Conservation of Natural Resources in the United States, p. 60. Idem, 360.

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therefore wasteful method of securing illumination at night but in many instances the torches are not shut off during the day.

6. Offset wells.—The drilling of offset wells is not only frequently a waste of capital, resulting from overdrilling, but very frequently results in marked waste of gas. This is discussed in further detail on pages 55-57.

7. Improper plugging.-Where a well is abandoned and the casing pulled, if the hole is not properly plugged, it may result in the ruination of other gas bearing formations by the migrating of gas or water from one to the other, or the very great waste of gas leaking into coal veins or coming up and passing out into the air.

WELL OPERATION WASTES.

1. Wasting gas to get oil.-Where oil and gas are found in the same field it is quite a general practice for oil operators to blow off the gas, that is, waste it, in order to procure the oil. This is the principal cause of the depletion of many gas fields, and is responsible for a greater volume of gas waste than probably all other causes put together.

In tests on over 1,000 oil wells in West Virginia it was shown that the waste of natural gas of each well was at the rate of 12 M cubic feet a day, or 4,380 M cubic feet of natural gas a well per annum. There are at least 16,000 oil wells in West Virginia, and at this rate the annual waste from this source would be at least 70,000,000 M cubic feet of natural gas, equivalent to about one-third of all the natural gas used for domestic consumption in the United States.

2. Excessive blowing.-Where wells are blown into the atmosphere for water freeing purposes the gas must, of course, be wasted. However, in many cases the wells are blown longer than necessary, and in others it would be feasible to install siphons for the removal of the water so as to curtail this form of waste.

3. Salt water troubles.-In some instances salt water exists in the gas-bearing formation and in others it works in from other strata, due primarily to improper drilling and casing methods. This results in a large waste of gas when the wells must be watered to free them of the salt formation below in the tubing.

4. Too rapid lowering of the rock pressure.—The irregular or too rapid lowering of the rock pressure by exceedingly rapid production will always produce undesirable operating conditions, and must ultimately result in a large waste of the total amount of gas that might have been removed with more rational operating methods.

TRANSMISSION WASTES.

1. Leakage. The structural conditions accounting for much of the leakage along gas lines are discussed in detail on page 58. The

leakage in the consumer's house piping beyond the meter is very much larger than ordinarily appreciated. In a number of houses where the leakage has been checked it has been found that in their instances the leakage averaged 19 M cubic feet of gas a year for each house.

2. Measuring devices curtail leakage.-The leakage problem is very much greater than ordinarily appreciated, due to the fact that in so many instances measuring appliances are not used for measuring the gas either into the line or out of the line. The more extensive use of measuring devices, if properly installed and the results properly interpreted, would reveal an enormous waste in many lines that are now supposed to be tight.

3. Blowing drips.—If the gasoline vapors and water vapor are not removed by drying the gas, considerable gas must be wasted where these vapors, after they have been precipitated in liquid form, must be blown out along the transmission system. The installation of gas drying plants will therefore practically eliminate this form of waste in addition to conserving the gasoline.

UTILIZATION WASTES.

1. Flat rate.-Much natural gas is still sold at a flat rate of so much per consumer, or so much for each fire or other fixture. This puts a premium on waste and results in the destruction of an enormous amount of gas that might be conserved for more intelligent and appreciated future use.

2. Cheap gas for manufacturing.-When natural gas is sold at low prices for industrial use, there is no incentive to use the gas in an efficient manner, and it is therefore quite frequently used without regard to efficiency or conservation. This is probably the largest form of waste in connection with utilization of natural gas.

3. Free gas.—In many cases boom towns in the gas fields have held out the inducement of supplying either free gas or the gas has been sold at ridiculously low prices for industries that would locate there. This feature has been especially troublesome in West Virginia and has resulted in depriving many domestic consumers of an adequate supply of the best fuel available for household use.

In an extensive investigation the amount of gas consumed by domestic consumers in West Virginia having free gas service privileges, on account of having gas wells or gas lines on their farms, it was found that the average consumption per free consumer a year was 480 M cubic feet. This is a. waste of at least 350 M cubic feet for each free consumer a year. There are at least 4,400 free consumers in West Virginia, and at this rate of waste this item alone amounts to 1,540,000 M cubic feet a year. This is more than half the amount of gas used in Louisville. The following further emphasizes this form of waste:

Average annual consumption for each free domestic natural gas consumer in West Virginia, 480 M.

Average annual consumption for each domestic natural gas consumer in the United States, 100 M.

Average annual consumption for each domestic consumer at Louisville, 53 M. 4. Carbon black. This is a form of improper use rather than absolute waste. The carbon black industry in West Virginia uses 50 per cent more gas than is furnished to all of the domestic natural gas consumers in that State. The economic reasons accounting for the use of natural gas for carbon black manufacture are discussed in detail on pages 60-62.

5. Inefficient use.-In many cases natural gas is used without mixers. The data given on page 40 show the marked difference between the use of natural gas in the fire pot of an ordinary coal furnace and a correctly designed natural gas furnace, and the cooking stove and lighting efficiencies emphasize the need of improvements in gasusing appliances.

6. Thermostat control.-Thermostats for controlling house-heating appliances are out of the experimental stage, and the large number in use demonstrates their reliability and usefulness. In addition to ministering to the comfort of the house occupants, they aid very materially in conserving the gas consumption by preventing overheating. Where natural gas is sold at low prices the practice is still all too common of lowering the temperature of an overheated room by opening a window rather than by lowering the gas fire.

7. Discount for low pressure stimulates waste.-In a number of instances consideration has been given to a penalty clause providing for a discount when pressures lower than 4 ounces are maintained. This has the immediate practical effect of lowering the price of gas during the peak load period and stimulates waste, for the wellknown human nature reason that what is made cheap will not be saved. When the consumer believes that his bills will be lower he will attempt to use more gas than he otherwise would, and in this way the cumulative effect will be to still further lower the standard of service to all, in addition to using the gas in a wasteful manner at a time when every thought should be for conservation of the highest order. Whatever may have been the motive for considering the penalty clause, there can be no doubt but that its effect is abortive.

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DEFINITION OF OFFSET WELL."

After a well has been drilled on one farm, the term "offset well," in a narrow sense, means a well drilled on a contiguous farm, directly opposite from the first well and substantially the same distance across from the farm line.

It is not necessary in all cases that the offset well be either directly opposite to or the same distance from the property line as the

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