Join us for the next Baker Center Forum on Energy and the Environment, which 
will take place on Thursday, April 10 at 3:30 pm in the Baker Center’s Toyota 
Auditorium.
 
Sheila Olmstead, Associate Professor of Public Affairs at the Lyndon B. Johnson 
School of Public Affairs at University of Texas, Austin, will give a 45-minute 
presentation and then lead a discussion with participants.  She will present: 
 
Shale Gas Development Impacts on Surface Water Quality in Pennsylvania
 
Abstract: Concern has been raised in the scientific literature about the 
environmental implications of extracting natural gas from deep shale formations, 
and published studies suggest that shale gas development may affect local 
groundwater quality. The potential for surface water quality degradation has 
been discussed in prior work, although no empirical analysis of this issue has 
been published. The potential for large-scale surface water quality degradation 
has affected regulatory approaches to shale gas development in some US 
states, despite the dearth of evidence. This paper conducts a large-scale 
examination of the extent to which shale gas development activities affect 
surface water quality. Focusing on the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania, we 
estimate the effect of shale gas wells and the release of treated shale gas 
waste by permitted treatment facilities on observed downstream 
concentrations of chloride (Cl−) and total suspended solids (TSS), controlling 
for other factors. Results suggest that (i) the treatment of shale gas waste by 
treatment plants in a watershed raises downstream Cl− concentrations but not 
TSS concentrations, and (ii) the presence of shale gas wells in a watershed 
raises downstream TSS concentrations but not Cl− concentrations. These 
results can inform future voluntary measures taken by shale gas operators and 
policy approaches taken by regulators to protect surface water quality as the 
scale of this economically important activity increases.
 
Sheila Olmstead joined the LBJ School as an Associate Professor of Public 
Affairs in 2013. Before joining the LBJ School, Olmstead was a Fellow (2010-
2013) and Senior Fellow (2013) at Resources for the Future in Washington, DC, 
as well as Associate Professor (2007-2010) and Assistant Professor (2002-
2007) of Environmental Economics at the Yale University School of Forestry and 
Environmental Studies, where she was the recipient of three teaching awards. 
Olmstead is an environmental economist whose current research projects 
examine water resource management, focusing on water demand estimation, 
water conservation policy, regulatory avoidance and access to drinking water 
services among low-income communities. Climate and energy policy are 
additional topics of her research, especially with regard to the application of 
market-based environmental policy instruments.
Olmstead’s research has been published in leading journals such as the Journal 
of Economic Perspectives, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 
Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, Journal of Environmental 
Economics and Management, Journal of Urban Economics, and Water Resources 
Research. Her work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of the Interior, World Bank, 
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration. Olmstead is a member of the Board of Directors of the 
Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, and a member of the 
Advisory Board of the International Water Resource Economics Consortium. She 
holds a PhD from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government 
(2002), a Masters in Public Affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public 
Affairs, University of Texas, Austin (1996), and a BA from the University of 
Virginia (1992).
 
The Baker Center Energy and Environment Forum is an opportunity for 
academics to share their research findings to a broad set of academics, 
researchers, and students from outside their own discipline but who have a 
common interest in environmental and energy issues. For more information 
about the Baker Center Energy and Environment forum visit the forum’s 
website: 
http://web.utk.edu/~jlarivi1/bcinter.html.
 
Please join us for what promises to be a very interesting discussion and 
presentation.
 
Paul Armsworth, College of Arts and Sciences
Jacob LaRiviere, College of Business Administration 
Becky Jacobs, College of Law
Chris Clark, College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources