Burton Visits NWA

Johnnie Burton, the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Land and Minerals Management visited with Southwestern Energy officials. The energy company is in the process of getting approval to drill and develop on several sites along the Fayetteville Shale. The company shared it`s progress with Burton Tuesday afternoon. The Fayetteville Shale is a large rock formation extending across north central Arkansas. The formation`s depths range from fifteen-hundred to sixty-five hundred feet. Southwestern Energy officials say the mineral deposit is still in it`s `infancy` stage, much more needs to be researched. "We have a large lease-hold, a large area that needs to be explored, we`re currently trying to determine the potential of the Fayetteville Shale," says John Thaeler, Senior VP of the Fayetteville affiliate of Southwestern Energy. The company owns acres of the Fayetteville Shale in Franklin, Conway, Van Buren, Cleburne and Faulkner counties-- and will invest $338 million to develop natural gas wells this year. Burton said the demand for natural gas continues to grow and the United States needs to rely less on foreign imports. "The more you depend on a foreign country, the less in control you are as a country, so I think that producing more at home makes a lot of sense," Burton said. The formation could have a large impact on the state`s economy, she said, because it would bring in more jobs and revenue.