The document summarizes news related to air emissions monitoring and regulation in the Barnett Shale region. It discusses how the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has found elevated benzene levels in some areas and is working with the oil and gas industry to identify and address emission sources. It provides examples of high benzene readings found during TCEQ monitoring. It also outlines TCEQ's plans to expand long-term air monitoring in the region and for industry to conduct self-audits. Finally, it mentions that the Texas Department of State Health Services will test residents of Dish, Texas for benzene exposure levels.

1. Video Cameras
Focus on
Barnett Shale
Emissions
SEC Reporting
Changes
Implemented
Basin
Oil Gas
February 2010
&&

2. Basin Oil&Gas Magazine 3
February 2010
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Pamela Slover Percival
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Basin Oil & Gas is published monthly by Zachry
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Pamela Percival
Editor
Magazine Staff
Contents
Basin
Oil & Gas
Volume 3, Issue 2
On the Cover:
A snowy day in the east Barnett Shale Field at an XTO Energy 112-acre site in south
Arlington, Texas, UDI (Union Drilling Texas) rig number 220. Temporary walls were
erected around the platform to block the cold winter wind. Jim Domke photo.
5 Video cameras on drillsites help with
safety and improved performance
People in the oil and gas industry, from investors who might
live thousands of miles from the drillsite to the crew that does
the work, now often rely on high-tech video systems for safety,
information and production.
16 TCEQ concerned about emissions from
Barnett Shale facilities; asks industry to
help find and fix problems
The message that representatives of theTexas Commission on
Environmental Quality brought to the oil and gas industry in
the Barnett Shale area in a December workshop was clear: the
agency is concerned about air emissions in the area, particularly
benzene, and it is acting on those concerns.
• Texas health officials testing Dish residents forbenzene
• Service companies offerhelp with emissions surveys,
mitigation efforts
26 People in the Play –
Noise Solutions’ Rod MacDonald
Rod MacDonald is known today for the patented technologies
he has invented that are used in the oil and gas industry and by
NASA. But the co-founder of Noise Solutions Inc. believes he
would never have had the courage to become an inventor if he
had not almost died by electrocution in 1974.
33 Photo Essay: Working under pressure
Photographer Jim Domke follows the hydraulic fracturing of
two Barnett Shale wells, undertaken by XTO Energy and Frac
Tech Services.
(continued on page 4)

3. Contents(continued from page 3)
Basin
Oil & Gas
Director Gregory Kallenberg (front) looks over a shooting position as
cinematographer Rob Senska sets up during the filming of a documentary
about the Haynesville Shale in May 2009, in Mansfield, La.
Greg Pearson/The Times.
10 The Capitol Drill
12 Fort Worth Basin Reports
13 Haynesville Shale Area Reports
14 Haynesville Shale News from The Times at Shreveport
24 News from the TCU Energy Institute
30 Gene Powell’s Shale Speak
32 HR IQ
36 The Legal Landscape
38 News Reviews
44 Caught on Camera
46 Calendar of Events
Departments
4 February 2010 www.fwbog.com
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4. 16 February 2010 www.fwbog.com
TCEQconcernedaboutemissions
asksindustrytohelpfindThe message that representatives of theTexas Commission
on Environmental Quality brought to the oil and gas industry in
the Barnett Shale area in a December workshop was clear: the
agency is concerned about air emissions in the area, particularly
benzene, and it is acting on those concerns.
“In our recent sampling, we have seen concentrations of
benzene that have brought
some concern,” saidTony
Walker,TCEQ Region 4
(Dallas-FortWorth area)
director. “Right now we
are challenged in that
we don’t know what the
sources of these emis-
sions are for certain. But
we don’t want to wait, we
want to address this now.”
Walker was referring
to mobile monitoring the
agency conducted in a six
county area of the Metro-
plex during 2009, using
such tools as infrared
video cameras and canister
sampling.The counties
includedTarrant,Wise,
Denton, Parker, Hood and
Johnson.The results of
those tests concerned the
agency and others enough
that it is ramping up its
testing program in the area and asking the oil and gas industry
itself to conduct self- audits for emissions, to look for problems
and get them fixed.
“The bottom line here is our toxicologist is telling us that
benzene is driving this,”TCEQArea Director for Field Opera-
tions in the Border and South CentralTexasArea Ramiro Gar-
cia told the 100-plus attendees at theTCEQ’s Compliance and
Assistance and Pollution Prevention Oil & GasWorkshop, held
in FortWorth on December 8. “So rather than wait for a rule or
wait for other things that might take longer, we’d rather work
practically with you all to find solutions that work quickly and
get these emissions out of the airshed.”
More than 80 different oil and gas-related locations were
visited during three monitoring trips in the Barnett Shale area
duringAugust, October and November, according toTCEQ
Toxicologist Shannon Ethridge. She pointed out an example of
one of the problems found during the monitoring – a wellhead
emitting a benzene concentration of 15,000 parts per billion, or
in percent concentration, .0015 percent.The valve on the top of
the wellhead was open.
“If you had a worker
on site being exposed to
that, it might be a prob-
lem,” Ethridge said. “The
sample was taken on site,
near the source and there
didn’t appear to be anyone
nearby. However, that
led us to question how
frequently this occurs, is
this normal?”There are so
many wells in the area and
we have concerns about
how frequently emissions
are occurring, she added.
Another example
she presented was of a
compressor station where
an air sample showed a
maximum benzene con-
centration of about 1,100
parts per billion.
“That’s the same con-
centration you would get
if you were to hold a gas
can up to your nose, with a one-hour average of 540 parts per
billion,” Ethridge pointed out.
At this location, some houses were located nearby, but
Ethridge said the concentration for them would be below actual
health effect levels.
However, some of theTCEQ’s testing so far in the Barnett
Shale area has shown “some of the highest benzene concentra-
tions we have monitored in the state.” She compared some of
the DFWarea emissions to those found in the highly industrial-
ized Houston Ship Channel area.
“In comparison to our fixed siteAutoGC monitors, this
concentration of 540 parts per billion ranks number nine out of
more than 1 million, one-hour benzene samples collected since
1995 (including all fixed siteAutoGC monitors in the state),”
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
(TCEQ) has established a Web page to serve as
a clearinghouse for information on the agency’s
monitoring operations in the Barnett Shale in North
Texas. It is located at http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/
goto/barnettshale.
According to the Web site, the TCEQ is using
state-of-the-art technology to address emissions from
Barnett Shale activities and overall oil and gas opera-
tions. These initiatives will continue to reduce emis-
sions through improved agency policies, guidance for
regulated entities and possible enforcement, if neces-
sary.
Information on the page includes an explana-
tion of data collection and analysis, an overview of
the impact of oil exploration in the region on ozone
concentrations, health effects, strategies to prevent or
reduce emissions, and technical questions pertaining
to monitoring activities. The site also features a list of
upcoming meetings and events related to this topic.
Tceq Establishes
Barnett Shale Web Site

5. Basin Oil&Gas Magazine 17
Ethridge continued. “The next issue we’re concerned about is
we monitored these levels about 100 yards from two homes.
This got our attention because the exposure component was
more of a possibility.Again, we ask the question ‘is this normal
and how frequently does this occur?’We know that the poten-
tial for exposure to emissions in this area is great – there are
literally thousands of potential (oil and gas emissions) sources,
some of them near homes, churches, daycares, etc.”
To help measure long-term emissions in the area, the
TCEQ will be adding two fixed-siteAutoGC continuous moni-
tors to the area in 2010, one at Eagle Mountain Lake, which
already has an ozone monitor, and one in Dish,Texas.The
equipment will monitor volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
and nitrogen oxides (NOx). However, Ethridge said the agency
would have to collect at least a year’s worth of data at the new
sites before they can reach any conclusions about the potential
for long-term health risks of any emissions.
The agency is also planning a fourth mobile monitoring
session in the Barnett Shale area in the spring of 2010 to deter-
mine emission rates and characteristic of emissions at sources,
along with offsite impacts of emissions.
However,TCEQ representatives point out that, with thou-
sands of oil and gas sites in the Barnett Shale area, the fastest
way to make a difference in potential emissions is for the oil
and gas industry itself to ramp up its efforts to find and fix any
problems.
fromBarnettShalefacilities,
andfixemissionsproblemsKeith Sheedy from theTCEQ’s
chief engineer’s office, said the agency’s
executive director met with the top 10
production companies in the Barnett Shale
area, along with representatives from four
industry associations, to discuss emissions
in the area. Basically, the message was that
“we are putting people on notice – just get
your house in order,” Sheedy advised the
industry.
The agency wants companies to be
able to tell theTCEQ where all of their
facilities are located, such as storage
tanks, compressors, etc, and how close
they are to the nearest receptor for any
potential emissions, such as a house,
church, ballfield, etc.
“And are you properly authorized to
operate that equipment?” Sheedy added.
“That’s one of the biggest questions we’ve
got right now.Are you using the proper, most up-to-date equa-
tions to determine that authorization?What best management
practices are you using to control emissions?We’ve gone out
there and seen pressure relief valves just stuck open.Are you
using best maintenance practices to take care of this? Have you
talked to your employees to make sure they’re taking care of
this? Do you own an IR (infrared camera) to investigate this for
Open hatches on tanks are one of the most common sources of
hydrocarbon emissions in the Barnett Shale area, according to the
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Other common sources
are unlit flares and vent pipes. Photo courtesy TCEQ.
Types of Facilities where the TCEQ has Observed
Hydrocarbon Emissions with an Infrared Camera
in the Barnett Shale Area
Glycol
Dehydration
Units
Pressure
Relief
Valves
Vent
Stacks
Flares
Condensate/
Produced
Water Tanks
Source: Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
Note: An IR camera can only demonstrate the presence or
absence of a hydrocarbon and does not quantify or qualify the
gases detected. Information collected with the IR camera usually
leads to follow-up investigations, such as air sampling for more
precise measurement of gases present.

6. 18 February 2010 www.fwbog.com
The Texas Department of State Health
Services plans to begin early in this first
quarter of 2010 taking blood and urine
samples from about 50 residents in Dish,
Texas, a town of about 200 in Denton
County that sits next to several large natu-
ral gas compressors and Barnett Shale gas
wells.
The blood will be tested for volatile
organic compounds, including benzene,
DSHS spokeswoman Allison Lowery said
in late December. Urine will be tested for
metabolites, basically what these products
break down to in the body. The samples
will be sent overnight to the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control lab in Atlanta, Ga.,
for testing. Test results are expected back
within a month. How long it takes for
those results to be made public depends
on what the results reveal and the time it
takes for the DSHS to write its report.
“We’re conducting these tests in re-
sponse to concerns within the community
of Dish about possible health problems
among residents there,” Lowery said. “We
feel it’s important to get an accurate pic-
ture of what’s going on in Dish. Everything
we collect during this investigation will be
confidential, and all we will release at the
end will be a summary report of what is
found.”
Lowery added, however, that each
individual who is tested will receive his or
her private results report.
Texas Health Officials
Testing
Dish Residents
For Benzene
yourself? Six months down the road, if
you haven’t done this for yourself, you
will not have a defense.”
To aid in pollution prevention
efforts, theTCEQ offers a Small
BusinessAssistance Program, as well
as a SiteVisit Plus (SAV+) Program.
Through SAV+, facility owners or
operators can get a free site visit to help
indentify performance issues, generate
innovative strategies, and provide
pollution prevention tips.The visits are
not regulatory or enforcement actions,Mobile air emissions monitoring.Source: TCEQ.
the focus is on technical assistance. More
information is available online at www.tceq.
org. PowerPoint slide presentations from the
Dec. 8 workshop are also available online
at http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/assistance/
P2Recycle/Oil%20and%20Gas.The
presentations have also been archived by the
Powell Barnett Shale Newsletter at www.
barnettshalenews.com. O
By Pamela Percival, Editor.

7. Servicecompaniesoffer
helpwithemissionssurveys,
mitigationefforts
A Target Emissions Services crew
member uses an infrared camera
to scan a storage tank for fugitive
emissions. Courtesy photo.
Basin Oil&Gas Magazine 19

8. 20 February 2010 www.fwbog.com
With the increased emphasis on finding and fixing
hydrocarbon emissions in the Barnett Shale, it would
seem there might be an increased market for businesses
that can help identify fugitive emissions and offer miti-
gation solutions.
A number of companies in North America perform
emissions testing and provide assistance with emissions
mitigation. The Environmental Protection Agency’s Gas
STAR program offers an online service provider direc-
tory to help companies identify service providers (www.
epa.gov/gasstar/tools/service-provider-directory.html).
One of the Texas-based providers listed on that site is
Hy-bon Engineering (www.hy-bon.com), which spe-
cializes in quantifying emission sources from oil and gas
facilities. The company’s emission survey teams have
helped several operators in the Barnett Shale to identify
and quantify their vent gas streams in 2009, according
to Hy-bon President and CEO Larry Richards. In 2008,
Hy-bon assisted customers in capturing 8.4 billion cubic
feet of previously vented methane
gas in the United States.
“Our two- man teams utilize
FLIR GasFinder cameras to video
each source, then we use a cadre
of quantification tools depend-
ing on the vent stream,” Richards
said. “Each team carries turbine
meters, HiFlow Samplers, ul-
trasonic meters, calibrated bags,
controlled air, and gas analysis
equipment. The customer receives
a full report with a video of each source, the volume,
gas analysis (if applicable) and our recommendations
for economically capturing the gas. We’ve added an ad-
ditional team for 2010, and dramatically lowered our
pricing to make the service available to even the small-
est customer.”
Hy-bon’s vapor recovery systems capture low pres-
sure gas streams.
“In most instances, the company can recommend
solutions for capturing the gas with less than a six
month financial payback period,” Richards said. “Most
importantly, the vapor recovery systems are designed
specifically for these typically wet, low pressure gas
streams. Most companies try to handle the capture of
these gas streams with standard compression equipment,
and it just doesn’t work. While vapor recovery systems
are more sophisticated and complex than standard com-
pressor packages, the technology in this arena has im-
proved dramatically over the past decade. With proper
design, these units consistently average over 95 percent
run time in this somewhat tricky application.”
Richards said he believes the natural gas industry is
at a crossroads where it must ramp up efforts to reduce
vent emissions.
“On one side, natural gas is the cleanest burning
energy source in our country, and a perfect 25-year
bridge to alternative fuels,” Richards explained. “We
have a great story to tell about the benefits of focusing
future energy policy around natural gas. ... On the other
hand, when vented to the atmosphere, natural gas is a
potent greenhouse gas. The current estimate is that each
ton of vented methane has 23 times the greenhouse ef-
fect of one ton of CO2
. Billions of cubic feet of natural
gas are vented from storage tanks, production facili-
ties and pipeline systems across the United States, and
the technology that has emerged in the past decade to
In most cases, the amount of gas recovered
can show a positive net present value. We have
had instances where facilities have seen
hundreds of thousands of dollars of gas recovery
from repairing leaks. The economics are good.

9. Basin Oil&Gas Magazine 21
see and quantify these emissions
suggests that actual emissions are
exponentially higher than histori-
cal estimates. Most in our industry
also firmly believe that it is our God
given right to vent as much methane
as we see fit, when we see fit – and
make these decisions on a field level.
“As an industry, we can’t legiti-
mately make both arguments,” Rich-
ards continued. “In my opinion, the
venting of large quantities of meth-
ane gas is an unsustainable industry
practice. Beyond that, it’s just bad
business for employees, sharehold-
ers and other stakeholders. There are
legitimate reasons to vent methane,
and these need to be defined and ex-
plained. However, trying to defend
all venting is hurting the industry’s
credibility. This is a natural resource
that took millions of years to create,
and once vented to the atmosphere
it’s gone forever. The Natural Gas
STAR program focuses on technolo-
gies and best management practices
that are commercially viable, and
dramatically reduce methane emis-
sions. Most of these technologies
have an economic payback of less
than 24 months, and are proven in
the field.
“We have a window of opportu-
nity to convince a nation that natural
gas is THE bridge fuel for the next
25 years,” Richards continued. “To
do so, we must make a real effort
to reduce vent emissions from our
oil and gas facilities. Not a token
project, or a study for the summer
intern – but a real effort using the
correct equipment to capture the gas
and put it in a pipeline. Projects that
are still capturing the gas 12 months
later, and a system in place to prove
it to skeptics. A very real argument
exists regarding what volume of gas
is reasonable to vent at a location or
compressor station. However, it’s
incredibly hard to defend hundreds
of locations across our state that are
venting 20 to 250 Mcf/day near low
pressure pipelines. The technology
exists to turn these low pressure
gas streams into revenue, but it will
take a shift in priorities in many
companies to do so. The crossroads
question; do we focus our efforts on
defending past practices, or on posi-
tioning natural gas as the best clean
energy source of this nation?”
Another service provider listed
on the Natural Gas STAR site is
Target Emissions Services (www.
targetemissions.com), a division
of Envirotech Engineering. The
company provides a range of fugi-
tive emission management services
to the oil and gas and petrochemical
industries. Target specializes in the
use of infrared thermal imaging to
locate hydrocarbon gas leaks. The
company uses the same type of
infrared camera that’s used by the
Texas Commission on Environmen-
tal Quality, the FLIR GasFindIR,
said Terence Trefiak, a professional
engineer with Target, which is based
in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, but has

10. 22 February 2010 www.fwbog.com
done some work in the Barnett Shale.
Trefiak said he expects to continue seeing increased
demand for emissions testing.
“I guess the biggest driver right now in Canada and
the United States are the regulation changes,” Trefiak
explained. “In western Canada, we’ve had a new re-
quirement for the last two years where companies have
to look for fugitive emissions; they must have a program
in place for that. Most companies are doing an annual
assessment on their larger facilities, they prioritize it
based on total leak rates. In the United States, with the
new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) green-
house gases reporting rule, there is a section specifically
on oil and gas upstream fugitive emissions. The due date
for compliance was 2010 and now it is due at 2011.”
The final Mandatory Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Re-
porting Rule requires monitoring beginning in the first
quarter of 2010 and first-ever GHG reporting starting
on March 31, 2011, for 2010 emissions. The rule will,
for the first time, require large emitters of heat-trapping
emissions to begin collecting GHG data under a new re-
porting system, according to the EPA. The new program
will cover approximately 85 percent of the nation’s
GHG emissions and apply to roughly 10,000 facilities.
Under the rule, suppliers of fossil fuels or industrial
greenhouse gases, manufacturers of vehicles and en-
gines, and facilities that emit 25,000 metric tons or more
per year of GHG emissions are required to submit an-
nual reports to EPA. The gases covered by the proposed
rule are carbon dioxide (CO2
), methane (CH4
), nitrous
oxide (N2
O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFC), perfluorocar-
bons (PFC), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6
), and other fluo-
rinated gases including nitrogen trifluoride (NF3
) and
hydrofluorinated ethers (HFE).
“If your facility emits 25,000 tons of CO2
equiva-
lent per year, you must do an annual assessment,”
Trefiak explained. “So a large compressor station or a
mid-sized gas processing plant would usually meet that
Engineer Terence Trefiak of Target Emissions Services scans for fugitive emissions with a FLIR GasFindIR thermal imaging video camera. The
infrared camera delivers real-time thermal images of gas leaks. Mike Ridewood photo.

11. Basin Oil&Gas Magazine 23
threshold. This next year a lot of companies will start
doing some work for that rule. We did some work for a
company in Texas that saw this regulation coming and
wanted to do a test case to see what it would cost, what
they might have to do to get ready. Companies may want
to assess a few facilities and see what they find. A lot of
these facilities never had any leak detection programs
in place, so they are testing the waters to see what they
find, what it will cost to fix, and to help them institute a
company-wide program.
“A lot of companies see this as just another cost of
business or a regulation to follow, but when they see the
numbers coming from these assessments, they’re seeing
that there’s a lot of gas to be recovered,” Trefiak con-
tinued. “In most cases, the amount of gas recovered can
not only cover the cost of the assessment, but actually
show a positive net present value. We have had instances
where facilities have seen hundreds of thousands of dol-
lars of gas recovery from repairing leaks. The economics
are good.”
Doug Bartley, president of environmental and safety
consulting firm B.enviroSAFE (www.beenvirosafe.
com), based in Haslet, Texas, said he hasn’t been bom-
barded with new inquiries for emissions testing yet, but
he expects to see an increase in business. The company
conducts audits of facilities for compliance with regula-
tions and permit requirements and makes recommenda-
tions for short term/immediate compliance, and imple-
ments programs for long term compliance. Although the
B.eviroSAFE’s main business at this time is more di-
rected at emissions testing for engines, Bartley had some
general advice for the industry.
First, he recommended looking into the feasibility of
vapor recovery unit (VRU) for storage tanks, although
he added that this solution would most likely not be cost
effective when there’s only a couple of tanks on location.
For a larger tank battery, it can be a win-win situation
because not only does the VRU help eliminate emis-
sions, the recovered hydrocarbons can mean additional
income.
He added that compressor stations with glycol dehy-
drators could be a possible source of fugitive emissions.
“Glycol strips the moisture out of the gas,” Bart-
ley explained. “Chemicals might come out during this
process – they flash off during this process in steam. At
some point, you have to determine what your estimated
emissions are out of that steam. If it exceeds a certain
amount, you must put emissions controls on there to
capture that steam.”
Bartley speculated that hatches left open may indeed
be a major source of fugitive emissions. He suggested
that operators conduct internal audits to verify prudent
operations. While performing pre-acquisition audits,
Bartley has observed, on numerous occasions, that
hatches are left open after gauging the tanks. He also
suggested that companies consider the actual amount of
pressure needed to push condensate and water into stor-
age tanks from the separator(s). Since water weighs 8.2
pounds per gallon, pressure is needed to push the water
down the line and into the storage tank. Gas pressure is
used to push the water into the tank and gas can flash out
of the tanks after the line dumps.
“Do you really need 80 pounds of pressure to push it
into the tank?” Bartley queried. “If you only need 20 and
you’re using 80, you may be blowing excess amounts
of hydrocarbon emissions out as well. It’s called flash
gas. If you install a vapor recovery system and you
latch the hatches, that flash gas will be put back into
the gas stream and recycled after it’s done its job. That
in itself would be a substantial reduction in emissions
and there’s a payoff. Instead of blowing that gas into the
atmosphere, you are using it again or selling it. Those
facilities with numerous tanks or substantial condensate
production should evaluate their operations for the need
of a VRU. Another option for controlling tank emissions
would be a flare. While this option is viable, it does not
offer a payoff, as does the VRU.” O
By Pamela Percival, Editor.

12. 26 February 2010 www.fwbog.com
Basin Oil&Gas Magazine PEOPLE IN THE PLAY
R
Noise Solutions Inc. co-founder Rod MacDonald at the Fort Worth Water Gardens. Jim Domke photo.
od MacDonald is known today for the
patented technologies he has invented that
are used in the oil and gas industry and by
NASA. But the co-founder of Noise Solu-
tions Inc. believes he would never have had
the courage to become an inventor if he had
not almost died by electrocution in 1974.
“Everything changed in my life when
I had a near-death experience,” said the 60-
year-old MacDonald, who is Canadian by
birth, but whose ancestors are Scottish.
He was in his mid-20s and working as
an electrician in Red Deer,Alberta, Canada,
when he was electrocuted on a 480-volt,
three-phase system.
“The power came up through my right
leg and out through my left arm – got my
diaphragm and my heart,” MacDonald re-
called. “I was assumed dead by co-workers
at the site.Then I was brought back to life
three times before I stayed conscious.After
that experience, I determined that I was very
fortunate to have this exciting life and knew
I had met the biggest fear of my life, which
was death.The biggest thing that happened
after I had regained consciousness was I
realized I was tangled up on worrying about
how to just get by in life, instead of living
life to its fullest.After that, I got past the fear
of criticism and the fear of failure that used
to hold me back. I started to play with my
mind and developed products. If there’s a
message in this it’s that if people can get past
the fear of criticism and the fear of failure,
there is unbelievable opportunity and a full
and very exciting life to live. I also soon real-
ized that I only learned when things were
difficult.When things were easy, I was not
growing. I learned to embrace failure to find
the truth, the hidden secret.”
MacDonald created his first commercial
invention,The MacIgnitor, in 1981 in his
Near-death experience
the courage to bec

13. Basin Oil&Gas Magazine 27
gave Rod MacDonald
ome an inventor
garage on his family farm in Delburne,Alberta.The toxic vent
electronic flare ignitor is now used by the oil and gas industry
all over the world and by NASA.Although MacDonald is the
sole inventor ofThe MacIgnitor, he is quick to point out that
many of his other inventions have been team projects.
After completing high school, MacDonald had attended
the NorthernAlberta Institute ofTechnology, where he trained
as both a draftsman and then as an electrician. He was working
as an electrical contractor in 1981 in the gas fields in Canada
when he invented the MacIgnitor.
“I was asked to install an electronic flare ignitor that
was built by another company and their equipment failed so
often, it was very frustrating and embarrassing because I had
installed one for another oil company,” MacDonald recalled.
“I explained how poorly designed the current system was that
they were intending to use.Then, revealing some theories I
had about how a reliable flare igniter should be designed, I was
challenged by the oil company to build one based on my theo-
ries.At first I refused, as I lacked research and development
facilities and funding, but the oil company representative asked
me if I did not really believe in my theories. His challenge
stirred something inside of me because I did believe in my
theories and, as the fear of failure or criticism was no longer
a concern for me, I accepted his challenge. Achallenge that
changed the rest of my life!The MacIgnitor worked perfectly
on the very first try.”
That first patent changed MacDonald’s life again. He
established a new company, Mactronic Systems, and he soon
was travelling all over the world in connection with his busi-
ness.The MacIgnitor proved effective not only with flare stack
ignitions, but also with flare pits and offshore operations and
the product became a worldwide industry standard. MacDon-
ald went on to invent a variety of other products – most for
the oil and gas business.Those inventions included the Mini-
MacIgnitor, which was used to light the Caldron for the 1988
Winter Olympic Games in Calgary and the CalgaryTower’s
Special Events Flare.
“The Mini-MacIgnitor was inspired by the oil and gas
industry continually asking me to develop a reliable igni-
tion system like the original, big MacIgnitor, but for various
smaller applications,” MacDonald explained. “The original
MacIgnitor was designed for operating on a flare stack, where-
as the Mini-MacIgnitor was needed to ignite line heaters, large
furnaces and various small applications.”
In 1991, MacDonald was awarded the InnovativeAward
of Excellence by theAlberta Energy Resources Conservation
Board for his MacIgnitor.The Mini-MacIgnitor also became
a major component in the reliable ignition of a subsequent
invention,The Emergi-Flame, whch is used to ignite deadly
“sour” (hydrogen sulfide) gas if a drilling rig experiences a
blowout, MacDonald said.The Emergi-Flame uses the Mini-
MacIgnitor to ignite a pressurized stream of fuel.The fuel is
burned in the atmosphere while the Emergi-Flame produces
about 60 timed shots directed at the mid-section of the drill-
ing rig to maintain ignition during the unstable flows initially
experienced after a blowout.This invention changed the laws
ofAlberta dealing with the drilling of critical sour gas wells,
MacDonald said.
MacDonald recalled that development of the Mini-
MacIgnitor was key to his inventing the Emergi-Flame. He
was working in research and development in Clifton, N.J.,
with a company that produced silicone glass bonded mica used
for the special insulators on the MacIgnitor.
“I was walking down the streets of NewYork when all
the sudden it flashed through my mind how to construct a
Mini-MacIgnitor,” MacDonald recalled. “I’ve learned to pay
attention when I get a flash in my mind. So I rushed into a
restaurant, took a napkin and drew up the Mini-MacIgnitor,
which to this day has never been changed. People can be very
creative once they let go of this fear of criticism and the fear of
failure, then get into the power of the mind when it’s just free
to think.”
MacDonald said his ability to brainstorm and to tap into
the power of his creativity was enhanced by working with
Tapani Savolainen, Ph.D., a Finnish expert in research and
creativity who is now a partner and vice president of research
at CAC (ComputerAided Creativity)-Research Ltd. In the
early 1990s, Savolainen and the company invented computer
aided creativity, or brainstorming software, called Idegen, short
for Idea Generation.
MacDonald was returning home from a business trip to
Moscow for MacIgnitor sales when he met Savolainen by
chance on a connecting flight to Helsinki.The two men soon
discovered their mutual interest in creativity and MacDonald

14. 28 February 2010 www.fwbog.com
Basin Oil&Gas Magazine People in the Play
Rod MacDonald’s Emergi-Flame invention in action. Courtesy photo.
ended up working with Savolainen’s company, facilitating use
of Idegen for brainstorming with companies and individuals.
“It is so powerful to get into really authentic brainstorm-
ing, and the solutions that can come can blow people away,”
MacDonald said. “I love to encourage people or help them in
any way to be inspired, to be entrepreneurs and creative. For
some time I facilitated Idegen ComputerAided Brainstorming
sessions. I soon came to realize that team building is the foun-
dation to successful brainstorming, as cynicism of your fellow
brainstormers suffocates inspirational thought. However, har-
mony and encouragement foster creativity and brilliant solu-
tions.”
Although the Idegen software is no longer on the market
and MacDonald has moved on to other things, he and Savol-
ainen still think highly of each other.
“Dr. Savolainen became a great friend of mine,” Mac-
Donald said. “He taught me so much about the science of the
mind and creativity, most importantly that there is a process for
teams or individual brainstorming that brings the genius out in
people.”
“We really appreciate very much the creativity and enthu-
siasm of Rod MacDonald,” Savolainen responded by e-mail
recently while on a trip through Bangladesh. “He is a great
personality to work with.We first met him in a plane between
Moscow and Helsinki.We made the agreement of him sell-
ing our software in Canada and the U.S. His great work was
very important for the development of our company and the
software.”
So how did MacDonald get from flare ignitors and cre-
ativity software to the noise mitigation businesses?
“I had got to the point with Mactronic that I thought there
was nothing left to invent in that flare industry,” MacDonald
explained. “I was looking for an industry, preferably in the oil
and gas industry, that had not been developed. I discovered that
noise regulations were just starting to grow at that time around
the world – about 1996. People did not have answers and virtu-
ally all of these products needed to be
developed.There was an entire science
to be discovered and multiple products
that needed to be invented.”
Thus, Noise Solutions Inc. was
born in 1997 to develop and com-
mercialize the “science of silence” for
industrial noise control and for analysis
of noise, including many applications
in the oil and gas industry, such as gas
well compressor noise. MacDonald
partnered with his son, Scott MacDon-
ald, and acoustical engineer Cliff Fasz-
er, who is now the principle member
of FFAConsultants inAcoustics and
Noise Control, also located in Calgary.
“Cliff Faszer taught me everything
I know about acoustical engineering,” MacDonald said. Cliff
said to me, ‘we need somebody with the engineering science
like me and somebody crazy enough to figure out how to build
these products, like you.’”
The two still partner on many projects worldwide, al-
though they have separate companies. Faszer’s son,Andrew
Faszer, now also works at Noise Solutions Inc. in the capacity
of engineering team leader.
Noise Solutions is a general acoustical contractor provid-
ing turn-key services with guaranteed noise levels and special-
izing in industrial noise analysis and noise suppression.The
company’s manufacturing plant is located in MacDonald’s
hometown of Delburne, with sales offices in Denver, Colo.
MacDonald is passionate about this technology and the sci-
ence of noise mitigation. He gets especially loquacious when
discussing the ineffectiveness of simply putting a wall around
something to control noise.
“Noise is so challenging and the regulations are getting
so tight,” MacDonald explained. “On some of these facilities,
people must have a zero net noise impact, and you cannot do
zero noise impact with just walls. Noise is omni-directional,
it flows. It is not uni-directional, like light.To manage noise
properly, it must be trapped and attenuated at its source. It’s
like a disease, if you let it get out into the atmosphere, it goes
everywhere. It goes around corners, over hills, through stands
of trees.”
One of the most challenging types of noise to mitigate is
low frequency noise, such as is often associated with a natural
gas compressor station, MacDonald said.
“Low noise frequencies are what are so annoying to peo-
ple,” he continued. “It has such dynamic energy. It’s like a kid
with that low boom from his car – you can hear it for blocks
before you even see him. Low frequency is the hardest noise
to suppress, the most costly to suppress, and it takes the most
science to silence it.”
In fact, it was the suppression of low frequency noise that

15. Basin Oil&Gas Magazine 29
got MacDonald, Faszer and Noise Solutions closely involved
with the NationalAeronautics and SpaceAdministration
(NASA). It seems NASAneeded to solve noise problems with
the giant crawler transporter used to move the space shuttle
out to the launch pad, all 18 million pounds of it. MacDonald
and his team were invited to observe the situation first-hand
for a “fully-loaded roll-out” of the Space ShuttleAtlantis to the
launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
“We did a noise intensity study with the shuttle on there,
then wrote a report which identified that they not only had ex-
haust noise problems, but they had ventilation problems with
noise from the engine pump room getting out, and they also
had noise from the hydraulics. On the crawler, the hydraulic
noise was so bad it could actually harm the metal. But these
hydraulics support 12 million pounds, with the mobile launch
pad that supports the shuttle during transport, along with the
fully-loaded solid rocket boosters.This mobile launch pad has
to stay perfectly level while they’re travelling to keep the shut-
tle perfectly vertical.The two most critical sound waves were
actually from the hydraulic pumps inside the hydraulic fluid.
There were no hydraulic silencers in the world market that
would keep the shuttle perfectly plumb and isolate specific fre-
quencies and flat line them, but we did that in a joint research
and development project with NASA.”
Today, two crawler transporters at NASAhave hydraulic
noise suppression devices, or mufflers for hydraulic noise,
designed by the Noise Solutions team.And by coincidence,
the Kennedy Space Center also uses MacDonald’s MacIgnitor
electronic flare ignition equipment.
“So I’ve got equipment that I developed in two totally
different industries at the Kennedy Space Center,” MacDonald
said proudly.
He was also proud to share some testimonials from NASA
about his team’s work there.
“I’ve been wanting to say ‘thanks’for the excellent
work your Noise Solutions team did in reducing the sound
levels throughout the Shuttle Crawler Transporters,” stated
Perry L. Becker, chief, Shuttle Ground Structural Systems
Branch, Mechanical Division, Engineering Directorate,
NASAKennedy Space Center. “I had the opportunity to
experience first-hand the reduced noise levels due to your
new mufflers and acoustical ventilation systems. … Plus,
what a huge difference the jacking equalization and leveling
‘hydraulic silencers’modifications made! The difference in
the control room alone is very impressive!”
The Noise Solutions team continues to work with
NASAtoday, this time on the new Constellation space pro-
gram, which is developing the Orion spacecraft, theAltair
lunar lander and theAres rockets that will take humans to
the moon to build a lunar outpost where humans will live
and work on the moon’s surface. MacDonald said his team
is already working on the preliminary engineering for noise
mitigation for this new project.
Noise Solutions also has a new integrated heat and
noise management patent for compressors that MacDonald
is very excited about taking to the oil and gas industry in the
near future.
“It is going to change the way a multi-billion dollar
business is managed, change the way they build gas com-
pression equipment, and change the way that people see the
equipment because the cosmetics are going to improve,”
MacDonald said. “The big, bulky methods of compres-
sion and noise suppression that are used today will become
more compact with the new, patented Integrated Heat &
Noise Management design with zero noise capabilities and
landscape-friendly building designs.”
MacDonald now makes his home in Denver, where
Noise Solutions has a sales office. His son, Scott, stepped up
in June 2009 to become president of the company and take
over the day-to-day management.
“Part of my goal when I partnered with Scott was to
groom him to become the CEO and the president,” the el-
der MacDonald said. “It was basically timing, and just my
freedom to take and introduce the company more broadly.
I’m more involved now in the teaching and the innovation.
There’s a continuous flow of new products being developed
all the time, most for the oil and gas and mining industries.”
MacDonald continues to travel around the world, main-
ly to teach people in the oil and gas industry about noise and
noise suppression technology. In December, he journeyed
toAustralia to lead training for two oil and gas companies’
engineering teams.
“We teach people how to understand the science be-
hind industrial noise analysis and noise suppression, how
to record noise, how to read noise impact assessments,
how to know when they get a quote for different noise
abatement equipment, how to understand the dynamic
insertion loss tables (DIL), and to know the pitfalls of
guessing at costly noise control,” MacDonald explained.
“Noise is so very complicated and engineers are so busy
with their other work. Our purpose is to teach them so they
are empowered.”
The training is free and MacDonald admits that the ser-
vice provides an opportunity to advance his business.
“People are so impressed that someone will step out
and give before you try to ask for a contract,” he said. “Of
course, the sales just follow because the buyers then know
the complicated facts of the science of silence and that
Noise Solutions has mastered industrial noise analysis and
suppression in order to guarantee the resulting noise levels.”
One of his next training gigs will be at the annual con-
ference of the Gas CompressorAssociation in Galveston,
Texas March 7-10. He’ll speak on “The Science of Gas
Compressor Silence.” More information about the confer-
ence is available online at www.gascompressor.org. O
By Pamela Percival, Editor.