Carbon Capture & Sequestration Public Workshop

Dr. Roger Aines holds a B.A. degree in chemistry from Carleton College, and Ph.D. in geochemistry from the California Institute of Technology. Aines is a senior scientist in the Physical and Life Sciences Directorate at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). He leads LLNL’s Carbon Fuel Cycle Program, which takes an integrated view of the energy, climate, and environmental aspects of carbon-based fuel production and use. It supports U.S. Department of Energy projects in sequestration technology development for capture, and underground coal gasification. It provides key support to major international sequestration projects at InSalah, Weyburn, and the U.S. Partnerships. He has been at LLNL since 1984, working on nuclear waste disposal, environmental remediation, application of stochastic methods to inversion and data fusion, management of carbon emissions including separation technology, and monitoring and verification methods for sequestration. Aines is actively evaluating the role that direct capture of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere might play in a future where negative carbon emissions are required to maintain climate stability. He is leading an effort to develop catalysts to increase the rate of carbon dioxide capture from gases, and he is developing technology to utilize brine in sequestration aquifers as a fresh water source. Aines’ career has involved a close coupling of scientific research, engineering, field demonstration, and assessment of future development needs for technology with an emphasis on the transition of scientific projects from benchtop to pilot and field scale. During the 1990s he led the LLNL effort developing thermal remediation technology for DNAPLs, leading to the clean-up and closure of one of the most difficult superfund sites at Visalia, California. Aines led LLNL’s development of stochastic computational inversion and data fusion techniques known as the stochastic engine. This is currently being applied to monitor oil field injection and CO₂ sequestration. Aines holds eight patents in the area of in situ degradation of organic chemicals through heating, simulation of steam-driven underground processes in heterogeneous media, and the mechanisms of thermally assisted remediation.

William Barrett is the CO2 business manager for Occidental Petroleum’s Elk Hills Division. He received a B.S. in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M University and a M.B.A. with a concentration in international business from the University of St. Thomas. Barrett followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather to become a third generation oilman. Achievements in his 23 years of industry experience include setting records in short radius horizontal wells, managing technical personnel working the Mid-Continent states, and coordinating activities of the largest CO2 flooding operation in the world as CO2 project manager of Oxy’s Permian Basin Division. In this latter role, he was involved in all aspects of the CO2 business including internal and external CO2 supply and distribution, new CO2 floods and expansion of existing floods, and CO2 gas plant expansions to ensure processing capacity for the future. Barrett is now overseeing the proposed Elk Hills CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) Project, which will be the first commercial CO2 EOR project in California.

Dr. Elizabeth Burton is technical director of West Coast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (WESTCARB) and a program manager at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). She has done research and consulting in CCS for more than ten years for industry and government. She has experience in energy policy, including developing the Energy-Water Report to Congress and Roadmap, the AB 1925 report to the California Legislature on CCS, and serving on the Technical Advisory Committee to the California CCS Review Panel. She holds degrees from Bryn Mawr College, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at University of Miami, and Washington University in St. Louis. She has authored over 100 technical papers and an oceanography textbook.

Richard Chapman was appointed president and chief executive officer of the Kern Economic Development Corporation in November 2006. Chapman’s previous positions included executive director of the Buckeye (Arizona) Valley Development, Inc., and vice president for the Economic Development Council of Seattle and King County. He has also held a research position with Prudential Securities. Chapman holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Georgetown University and a M.B.A. in International Marketing from American University. Chapman hails from Pinehurst, North Carolina—The Golf Capital of the World.

Les Clark served as vice president of Independent Oil Producers' Agency (IOPA) from 1980 to 1999 at which time he assumed the position of executive vice president. IOPA is a membership organization comprised of independent oil companies operating mainly in the San Joaquin Valley. He is responsible for reviewing and analyzing all regulatory issues and advising his members of such. He is the principal contact with all federal, state, and San Joaquin Valley officials and staffs. Clark has been a resident of Taft most of his life, attending schools in that area until completing his education at Fresno State University where he received a B.A. in education. His basic knowledge of the oil industry was obtained from part-time employment with Atlantic Richfield and Petrotherm while attending school. Subsequently, Belridge Oil Company and Shell Oil Company employed him prior to assuming IOPA' s San Joaquin Valley operations. Clark has been and is currently involved in many local organizations as well as numerous county, state and federal agency work groups, including but not limited to: Governor Schwarzenegger’s California Partnership for San Joaquin Valley, Kern County Farm Bureau's Environmental Committee, Water Association of Kern County, Kern County Employers Training Resource and the Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce. Clark has also received a number of awards recognizing him for his contributions to the industry and community.

Dr. Jan Gillespie received a M.S. in geology from South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and a Ph.D. in geology from the University of Wyoming. In private practice she has worked as a geologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, a geological engineer for Tenneco Oil's Pacific Coast Division in Bakersfield and as a consulting professional geologist for ARCO, SI International and SERCO-NA. Gillespie currently teaches petroleum geology and basic well log interpretation seminars for the Pacific Coast Division of the Petroleum Technology Transfer Council. She is a registered geologist in California and has been teaching petroleum, ground water and GIS classes at CSU Bakerfield since 1991.

Dr. Robert Horton received a B.S. in geology from State University of New York at Binghamton (1973), a M.S. in geology from the University of Tennessee (1977), and a Ph.D. in geology with minor in geochemistry from Colorado School of Mines (1985). He has taught at CSU Bakersfield since fall 1984. His research is in the field of rock-water interaction and sediment diagenesis; he has published 18 research papers, made 58 presentations at professional research conferences, and served as a scientific consultant for National Geographic’s “Man-Made: Gallon of Gas” television special. To support his research activities he has actively sought and obtained outside funding from agencies such as the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Agriculture, the California Department of Water Resources, and American Association of Petroleum Geologists Foundation, including funds to establish and upgrade major laboratory facilities at CSU Bakersfield. Horton has served as secretary, vice president, and president of the San Joaquin Geological Society, vice president of the Pacific Section of the Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, as a member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists’ House of Delegates, Rules Committee, and Credentials Committee, and as interim assistant vice president for Grants, Research, and Sponsored Programs at CSU Bakersfield from 2007-2009. He received the American Association of Petroleum Geologists Pacific Section’s A. I. Levorsen Memorial Award for Best Paper (1993) and Outstanding Educator Award (1997) and CSU Bakersfield’s El Paso Natural Gas Award for Excellence in Teaching (1998), Bautzer Faculty Award for University Advancement (2000), and Outstanding Professor Award (2000).

Dr. Horace Mitchell became the fourth president of CSU Bakersfield (CSUB) in July 2004, after thirty-six years of experience in higher education. Prior to this position, Mitchell was at UC Berkeley, where he served as vice chancellor, Business and Administrative Services, and affiliated professor, African American Studies. He also previously served as the vice chancellor for Student Affairs and Campus Life, and associate professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at UC Irvine. Mitchell holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology, a master’s degree in counseling, and a Ph.D. in counseling psychology, all from Washington University in St. Louis. He serves on the Board of Directors of the American Council on Education. He is a member of the Steering Committee and a charter signatory of the American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment. His professional memberships include the American Association for Higher Education, American Council on Education, American Psychological Association, and Association of Black Psychologists. He has been recognized widely for his many years of community service by civic, non-profit, governmental, educational, and professional organizations. Mitchell’s teaching and research interests are in the areas of multicultural psychology and psychological assessment. He maintains his California license for private practice as a psychologist.

Rich Myhre is vice president of Bevilacqua-Knight, Inc. (BKi), an energy research consulting firm headquartered in Oakland, California. He leads company projects in energy supply and environmental control, with an emphasis on evaluating and advancing technologies to improve the cost, efficiency, reliability, and environmental performance of electric power generation. Many projects are shaped by the fuel and electricity market uncertainties and changing environmental regulations that confront power producers around the world. As outreach coordinator, Myhre has provided project management support to the U.S. Department of Energy sponsored West Coast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (WESTCARB) since its inception in 2003. He assisted the California Energy Commission in planning Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR) workshops in 2005, 2007, and 2009, and in coauthoring the AB 1925 report to the California Legislature on geological CCS strategies for the state. Myhre currently serves on the Technical Advisory Committee to the California Carbon Capture and Storage Review Panel. He has more than 25 years of professional experience in research planning and management, economic assessment, and process plant engineering. He holds a M.A. from the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley, a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Wisconsin, and is a registered mechanical engineer in California.

Dr. Robert Negrini graduated in 1979 with a B.A. cum laude in geology from Amherst College and in 1986 received a Ph.D. in geology from UC Davis. He has worked as a professor at CSU Bakersfield (CSUB) since the fall of 1985 and was selected as the CSUB Outstanding Professor in 1997. Despite the teaching focus of the California State University system, Negrini has published 18 papers in well regarded peer-reviewed publications including Geology, Journal of Geophysical Research, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Geophysical Journal International, etc. In addition, he has been an author or coauthor associated with more than 65 presentations at meetings of professional societies. To fund this body of research, Negrini has received grants from highly competitive grant programs including the National Science Foundation (NSF), the US Department of Agriculture, the California Department of Water Resources, and the Petroleum Research Fund of the American Chemical Society. Currently he is funded by the NSF and by contracts from Chevron, USA and Occidental Petroleum. Negrini has served as both president and vice president of the San Joaquin Geological Society, and worked on organizing committees for national and regional meetings of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. He was selected as the 2008 Educator of the Year by the Pacific Section of the AAPG.

Tiffany Rau is the policy and communications manager for Hydrogen Energy California (HECA), a joint venture project between BP Alternative Energy (BP) and Rio Tinto. She joined the world of CCS development projects in 2006 and joined the HECA team in Kern County, California in 2007. She serves on the Board of Directors of the California CCS Coalition established in March of this year. Rau has 16 years of government and public affairs experience with BP, and formerly ARCO, supporting a breadth of oil and gas operations. She has a successful history in developing public and regulatory outreach campaigns and working with stakeholder groups, such as the Regional Citizens Advisory Council in Valdez, Alaska. Rau was responsible for obtaining regulatory solutions with the Bay Area and South Coast Air Quality Management Districts, and she served on the staff of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington, D.C. Rau has a master’s degree in legislative affairs from George Washington University and lives in Hermosa Beach with her husband and two children.

Stacey Shepard is the south valley representative for the Great Valley Center (GVC), a non-profit think-tank and regional convener committed to solving the key social, economic and environmental issues facing California's Central Valley. Shepard represents the GVC in Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Kern counties and works on the organization’s health and energy initiatives. During her time at GVC, Shepard has developed and implemented a program to assist small Valley cities with greenhouse gas quantification and climate action planning in partnership with Pacific Gas & Electric. She has also coordinated a series of public events on regional health care quality and access, and co-produced Great Valley, a weekly public television series about the challenges impacting the Central Valley, which aired on PBS stations in Redding, Sacramento and Fresno. Before joining GVC in May 2009, Shepard was the environment and health reporter for the Bakersfield Californian newspaper. She earned a degree in journalism from Buffalo State College and moved to Bakersfield in 2006 after working several years as a newspaper reporter in her hometown of Buffalo, New York.

Horizontal.Block copy.jpg