Minimizing Impacts
Minimizing impacts on land from natural gas and oil development begins at the project planning stage, as companies look for opportunities to avoid sensitive habitats, minimize the surface area needed, and work with other users to reduce overall land footprint. This includes locating roads so they can be shared by multiple operators, creating narrow seismic lines, drilling multiple wells from a single well pad, employing low-impact pipeline construction methods and many other measures.
The challenge is to reduce the size and duration of land impacts, to maintain biodiversity and to support natural ecosystems. From initial exploration through to project closure, companies strive to achieve timely reclamation and restoration.
All land is reclaimed by law, meaning that once operations are complete, companies must restore disturbed land to an equivalent landscape, with self-sustaining native plant