Encore Green Environmental and DrillCom Join Together to Advance Environmental Stewardship

Technology Meets Agriculture in the Oilfield

Agricultural company Encore Green Environmental and remote communications company DrillComm jointly announced their alliance to advance stewardship of the lands in Wyoming as part of the Just Add Water Initiative. 

DrillComm is a leader in remote cellular and satellite communication solutions for multiple industries and brings this understanding to the challenge of produced/by-product water management. 

“We are excited to apply our area of expertise to this endeavor so that we can better take care of our lands and accomplish the goals of the Just Add Water Initiative,” says John Huff, President of DrillComm. “We appreciate the entrepreneurial spirit of this and look forward to working together.” 

 The Just Add Water Initiative transforms produced/by-product water from oil wells into safe, clean water to apply to the land for agriculture and conservation. The additional vegetative growth due to this new source of water on the arid land not only increases grasslands, stops erosion, and increases soil health, it also naturally mitigates carbon from the air due to photosynthesis. Historically, this produced/by-product water is disposed of into an injection well. In Wyoming alone, over 71 billion gallons of such water is tossed away each year.

“As we launched our Conservation By-Design™ method to put this water to beneficial use, it became clear we needed a technology solution to take advantage of the additional opportunities that the Just Add Water Initiative provides. Given their track record of achievement, we could have no one better than DrillComm to come alongside to explore these opportunities,” says Seth Frentheway, Director of Environmental Technologies at Encore Green Environmental.

Conservation By-Design™ is agronomy-centric and begins by testing the soil on the land near the oil well. The water is then tested to determine its makeup to match the soil’s ‘DNA’ for optimal vegetation growth. The water is processed there, close to the well, so no trucking is needed. Once the water matches the soil’s needs, it is applied to the  land, creating a total ecological solution.

To learn more about Conservation By-Design™ visit www.encoregreenenvironmental.com/cbd.

To learn more about DrillComm, visit www.soundandcellular.com/#about

Upfront Capital to Clean Water? Here’s a Better Way

The traditional ways we process/clean the water that comes from the oilfield is a capital intensive endeavor. Sometimes even massive. Don’t believe us? Just ask some of your friends in the Permian; they have a hundred million here, a hundred million there. To paraphrase Warren Buffet, pretty soon, you’re talking about real money.

That’s why we created Conservation By-Design™ to be economically viable in a pay-as-you-go business model. We take care of all the capital investment to set up, arrange the scientific testing and evaluation, clean the water, and properly and safely apply to the surrounding land. It not only ‘disposes’ of the water, it puts that water to use for ag and conservation.

And while lots of models call for $6 or even $8 a barrel to clean water plus the massive treatment facilities upfront costs, at Encore Green Environmental, we keep it simple. Whatever it’s costing you to dispose of the water right now (including things like trucking – all the costs), we’ll match or better that per barrel cost. 

You pay as we clean the water based on barrel count. It helps your cash flow and it helps the overall project. And did we mention the soil, vegetation, and air also are helped?

Talk to us. We’re all for finding the better way.

This is Why the West Needs Water

Do you know what the men in this photo are doing? Pesticides? Really weird caddies? 

No, they are heating up the thorns on this particular cactus, which is commonly called “prickly pear.” When the heat’s applied, the thorns essentially melt off, leaving the fruit of the cactus. This is a desperate move in the West because it’s mostly done when trying to provide food for livestock during a drought and the cactus is the only vegetation left standing.

Now, the prickly pear doesn’t have much nutritional value for the cow, but it does have fiber and that helps the cow get through another day. In hopes that tomorrow, somehow, someway, the land can find some water.

We need better solutions than this. Right now, we have a unique opportunity in the West to because the oil industry is churning out millions of gallons of water that is being tossed away by injecting it into the ground. Instead, let’s process the water to match the soil’s needs and then let’s land apply that water for grassland or grazeland. 

·     Want to watch animation about the solution? EncoreGreenEnvironmental.com/cbd

·     Want to read scientific papers about it? EncoreGreenEnvironmental.com/resources

·     Want to talk to somebody? 818.470.0285.

Let's Go Green – As In “Green Grass"

We all want to be green. Heck, we named our company Encore GREEN Environmental.

And we agree we should recycle, not waste our resources, and in general take care of our lands and waters and air. But we also mean “green” like the color of grass. 

We live and work in the arid West and when we look at the horizon, we often see brown dirt and not green grass. We all know why. Not enough rain. 

But at Encore GREEN Environmental, we want to turn that view of the horizon green. We are taking the oilfield produced/by-product water and cleaning it to match the surrounding soil’s “DNA” and applying that water on the ground in order to grow grass. 

Not only is this a much better way to “dispose” of this water, but we also get lots of benefits like carbon mitigation, improved soil health, and increased conservation. 

All with just green grass.

So, let’s go green figuratively AND literally. Let’s turn the arid West green.

Give a shout, Jeff.holder@encoregreenenvironmental.com

Finally! Something We Can All Agree On!

The ARID western United States needs WATER. Can we see a show of hands of who agrees with that? 

Thank you, yes, we see that hand. Even you in the back. Yes, everyone agrees that in a water scarce region like the arid West, water is a welcome visitor. The only problem is that water doesn’t come to visit nearly enough.

Water in the arid West means that dead, dry dirt become healthy soil. Vegetation can grow and if that happens, then photosynthesis mitigates carbon out of the air. Everybody wins. 

So, where are we going to get this water for the West? Truck it in from Florida?  No, we actually have the water right here in the arid West. In fact, there’s a multi-million dollar industry dedicated to throwing away water in the arid West. 

Wait, why would we do that? Why, indeed!

There’s trillions of gallons of industrial by-product water in this arid region but we just haven’t fully embraced the idea of cleaning that water and applying it to the ground. Instead, when produced/by-product water comes out of an oil well, we haul it away to another hole in the ground and throw it away because that water isn’t yet ready for ground application.

That’s kind of like saying we shouldn’t eat a carrot because we grew it in the dirt and it has to be washed first. If you want a carrot, then, wash it.

Yes, the water needs to be processed to take out any negative elements so that the water is matched to the “DNA” of the soil. Then, let’s do that.

Yes, that costs the same or less than disposing of it. Yes, there’s already permitting protocols for this. Yes, we’ll test all water in a double verification process to make sure the water is ideal for the soil. Yes, we’ll put that water data available for the public to see. No, we aren’t making this up.

Do you need water for your land? Or do you need to “dispose” of water from your industry? Either way, we can help. Let’s talk before you toss away another gallon.

This Photo is A Fake – And We Know It

Yep, this photo on our trade show banners is a fake – because what we are talking about doesn’t yet exist! We tried to find a photo of an oil well surrounded by lush grassland. That’s the goal and vision of what Encore Green Environmental is doing here in the arid West. But we couldn’t find a place like that. So, we had to photoshop the vision. 

But we are starting to make this vision be a reality. We take the oilfield by-product/produced water, test it, and then clean it to match the “DNA” of the soil. Then, we land apply that water to turn the brown dirt into green grassland.

You want your land to look like this? Let’s talk about how to make that vision a reality. No photoshop required.

Check us out: EncoreGreenEnvironmental.com

818.470.0285

WHY WATER: Because the Air Needs Help

Wait, what? Why talk about water alongside air? Water in the air is called rain, right? Well, there’s actually another relationship that water has with the air.

You see, our air gets cleaned up – carbon is removed, and more oxygen is released – through photosynthesis. That’s a 5-syllabal word for the fact that when vegetation grows, the plant releases oxygen and pulls carbon out of the air and locks it away in the roots and surrounding soil. Photosynthesis cleans the air.

But what do you need to have for that? 

Well, you need dirt. Check. We got dirt throughout the arid west.

You need sunshine. Check. If the sun goes dark, we have bigger problems.

You need water. Uh, no check. We’re in the ARID west, right?

But our Conservation By-Design™ method repurposes the by-product water from oil wells that sit on arid land and uses it to water the surrounding areas. And that makes photosynthesis work. 

 We need better soil. We need better air quality. We need to hold onto top soil. Just add water. 

Want To Know More?

·      Learn about Conservation By-Deign here: EncoreGreenEnvironmental.com/cbd

·      Read our articles about why we all need to Just Add Water: EncoreGreenEnvironmental.com/articles

·      Got a hankering for scientific papers? Check this: EncoreGreenEnvironmental.com/resources

WHY WATER: Planting Trees is Good – Growing Them is Hard

In the West, we have square miles upon square miles of open land, perfect for growing all sorts of vegetation to help our conservation and carbon mitigation. Perfect, except there’s no water! But that’s where we come in.

You see, in much of those square miles of dry, dusty dirt, there sits oil wells pumping out oil, but also pumping out by-product water – 3 to 5 times the amount of water to oil! 

In our collective shortsightedness, we’ve said the only thing to do with by-product water is to dispose of it – and so, we put it down another hole we drill and we inject it there under pressure. Now, even if that pressurized injection wasn’t causing earthquakes and even that that by-product water of unknown composition wasn’t close to the ground water and even if we had zero concerns about such an endeavor, we would be collectively foolish to throw it away!

Our Conservation By-Design™ method tests the surrounding soil, then tests the water. Once those two things are known, we clean the water to match the soil for optimal growth. Then, we re-test the water just to be sure, and then apply the water to the ground. Once we do that, things start to grow. Dead dirt becomes healthy soil. The green vegetation pulls carbon out of the air and replaces it with oxygen. 

So, yes, let’s continue to call to plant more trees and all sorts of vegetation. And lets it in the arid West!

Don’t know what we’re talking about?

·     Learn about Conservation By-Deign here: EncoreGreenEnvironmental.com/cbd

·     Read our articles about why we all need to Just Add Water: EncoreGreenEnvironmental.com/articles

·     Got a hankering for scientific papers? Check this: EncoreGreenEnvironmental.com/resources

How to Re-Arrange Deck Chairs on the Titanic

There’s a mindset in the oilfield by-product/produced water industry that is about as valuable as the guy whose job was to make sure the deck of the Titanic looked nice. No matter what he does – the big ship is heading for an iceberg very quickly.

The “iceberg” for the oil industry is that if you want to continue to drill, you really, really have to figure out what you’re going to do with your vast volume of water. This is a tough situation for Wyoming, Colorado, Montana. It’s a beyond a tough situation for New Mexico and Texas in the Permian. Regulators are granting fewer and fewer permits for injection while the projected volume of water grows exponentially.

In the Permian, if every drop of by-product/produced water went back in for additional fracking, that would only account for 7% of that water. Where’s the other 93% going?

No, we need a new solution. If we turn the ship away NOW, we avoid the disaster. What’s the solution? Agriculture. Open land (and oilfields have plenty of that) is the new midstream water solution.

We’re the leader in this space with our Conservation By-Design™ methodology.  Go to our site and poke around. Read our white papers, review our articles, watch our videos.

Give us a call. We can turn the ship to safety.

www.EncoreGreenEnvironmental.com

818.470.0285

Our Land’s Next Generation

Guest Blog: We just announced our first Permian Basin project. Our partner in this project is Cody Wilson, a fourth generation farmer who is a leader in innovation and processes to make American’s farms continue to supply the world’s food. Cody is our guest blogger to talk about the motivation for farmers and ranchers everywhere – legacy of the land:

My grandparents and parents secured our farm and ranch by selling our mineral rights to an oil company. Back then, focus was on the next generation that would one day inherit this west Texas land. Because of them, I now farm that very land for the fourth generation. This story is probably your story too, if you farm in the West.

Today, I’m looking to secure the future for my own son. But times are different – though still tough.

The mineral rights are gone. The economics of farming is more complex and dominated by corporations and accountants. Though we farmers are literally feeding the world, it’s difficult to economically maintain a large farm. 

So, I had to find a new way to ensure that my son has land to farm. After quite a bit of exploration, I’ve discovered it was in front of me all along – water.

On my land, oil rigs are gushing out produced/by-product water and that water is then tossed away through disposal.

I learned that this water can be converted to steam via solar panels and then the steam can turn a turbine. So, my farm can sell electricity. That was the first step to securing the future 

Partnering with Encore Green Environmental was the second. That steam can be converted back to water, processed right there on the same land to match the soil’s ‘DNA,’ and then land-applied to grow vegetation. The soil improves, the vegetation grows, and through photosynthesis, we capture carbon.

This way my land can be secured for yet another generation. We live in a time when you either innovate or you’re gone. But it’s good to know that water being used for agriculture is still the key to making a farm profitable, but not exactly as in the years past. 

We’ve announced this partnership at the Permian Basin 2019 conference in Midland. If you’d like to know more, contact Encore Green Environmental. You owe it to the next generation to at least have the conversation.

www.EncoreGreenEnvironmental.com