Welcome to the 2011 Briefing Series for Members of Congress and Staff

Second in the 2011 series

Unconventional Oil and Gas—Fueling the Future

The Nation relies on oil and gas to power its economy, and unconventional gas is the fastest-growing energy resource in the United States. The U.S. Geological Survey is the authoritative, unbiased source for assessments of the world's oil and gas endowment. Come learn how these exciting new energy resources may contribute to the energy mix.

• The USGS Energy Resources Program
• The U.S. Geological Survey Energy Resources Program Fact Sheet
• Assessment of Gas Hydrate Resources on the North Slope, Alaska, 2008
• Assessment of Undiscovered Oil Resources in the Devonian-Mississippian Bakken Formation, Williston Basin Province, Montana and North Dakota, 2008
• Assessment of Coalbed Gas Resources in Cretaceous and Tertiary Rocks on the North Slope, Alaska, 2006
• Natural Gas Production in the United States

• Cumulative Powerpoint (36 MB)
• Brenda Pierce: Oil and Gas Resources & USGS Assessments (24.1 MB)

Follow the Congressional Briefing Series on Twitter,
by following @USGSLive or hashtag #usgscbs.

• Congressman Doc Hastings

• Geological Society of America (GSA)

Speaker Biographies

Brenda Pierce
Program Coordinator,
Energy Resources Program-U.S. Geological Survey

Brenda Pierce is the Program Coordinator of the U.S. Geological Survey Energy Resources Program. As such, she manages and oversees the work done in the Energy Resources Program, including research and assessments on all geologically based energy resources (oil, gas, coal, coalbed methane, natural gas hydrates, geothermal, uranium, oil shale, heavy oil, etc.) and the environmental and human health effects of energy occurrence and use. Prior to joining the Energy Resources Program, Brenda was chief of the USGS National Coal Resource Assessment, the first digital assessment of the coal resources of the United States. In the 1990's, Brenda led the Coal Exploration and Resource Assessment of Armenia program, a USAID-funded program to develop a coal research and assessment capability and to explore for coal in Armenia. Brenda is by training an organic petrologist, and has conducted research on organic petrology, coal quality, coal bed methane, and a number of international energy projects. Brenda belongs to a number of professional societies, is a board member of various scientific organizations, and is a member of a number of interagency steering committees and working groups. Brenda has undergraduate and graduate degrees in geology from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

David Curtiss
Director, Geoscience & Energy Office – Washington, D.C. (GEO-DC), American Association of Petroleum Geologists

David Curtiss currently serves as the Director of the Geoscience & Energy Office – Washington, D.C. for the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. He previously was Deputy Director. Prior to joining AAPG, Mr. Curtiss was with the University of Utah's Energy & Geoscience Institute in Salt Lake City. There he served in a variety of capacities, most recently as Manager of International Strategy and Development / Senior Advisor to the Director. His technical expertise is in petroleum systems and basin modeling. While at EGI he contributed to hydrocarbon research projects in Algeria, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Colombia, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Russia, Turkmenistan, Uganda, and the United States. He also conducted global opportunity assessments for several research sponsors. In 2001-2002, he took a leave of absence from the University of Utah to serve as the American Geological Institute's Congressional Science Fellow. Mr. Curtiss holds degrees in geology, earth resources management, and business.

David Goldwyn
Goldwyn Global Strategies

David L. Goldwyn is President of Goldwyn Global Strategies, LLC, an international energy advisory consultancy. He is concurrently Of Counsel to Sutherland, Asbill and Brennan a law firm advising clients world wide in energy and other areas of practice. David Goldwyn served as the U.S. State Department's Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs from 2009-2011, reporting directly to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, where he conceived and developed the Global Shale Gas Initiative, the Energy Governance and Capacity Initiative, led ministerial level energy dialogues with Angola, Canada, China, India, Iraq, Mexico, Nigeria and Brazil, and co-chaired a regional biofuels initiative with Brazil. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Goldwyn was served the U.S. Government as Assistant Secretary of Energy for International Affairs (1999-2001), Counselor to the Secretary of Energy (1998-1999); national security deputy to U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson (1997- 1998); Chief of Staff to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (1993-1997) and an Attorney-Adviser in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the State Department (1991-1992). Mr. Goldwyn has authored a series of works on energy issues, including Energy and Security: Toward a New Foreign Policy Strategy (Johns Hopkins University Press, Wilson Center Press: 2005) and served as chairman of the Global Energy and Environment Initiative at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (2008-2009).

For information on the Briefing on Capitol Hill, please call 703-648-4455.