HARC's founder in the media
George Mitchell named one of "top global thinkers"

George Mitchell, the prominent Houston businessman who founded the Houston Advanced Research Center, has been in the media spotlight because of his achievements in the natural gas industry and his commitment to sustainability.

Mitchell was named by Foreign Policy magazine in its December issue as one of the most significant "global thinkers." He shares one of the 100 places on that list with two geologists:

The FP top 100 global thinkers / 36: Terry Engelder, George Lash, George P. Mitchell / For upending the geopolitics of energy

Nearly 30 years ago, a Texas oilman named George P. Mitchell threw his money behind an idea: that breaking apart dense underground shale formations could release vast reserves of natural gas. The bet took over a decade to pay off, but the wait was worth it, not only making Mitchell a billionaire, but also fundamentally reordering the global balance of energy and the political power that comes with it.

Only in the past several years has the extent of the shake-up become fully apparent. Thanks to investments made by Mitchell's industry heirs in hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," U.S. shale gas production nearly quintupled between 2006 and 2010 to 4.8 trillion cubic feet -- almost a quarter of U.S. natural gas production -- and prices plummeted. Meanwhile, geologists have mapped eye-poppingly large shale gas reserves throughout Europe and the United States -- most notably Terry Engelder and Gary Lash, who in 2008 estimated the reserves of the U.S. Northeast's Marcellus Shale formation at a monstrous 500 trillion cubic feet, making it the world's largest unconventional natural gas reserve. [read more]

The Bryan-College Station Eagle reported on Foreign Policy's recognition of Mitchell, a major supporter of his alma mater, Texas A&M University:

Aggies George Mitchell, Terry Engelder hailed for fracking contributions

A pair of Aggies made a respected magazine's 2011 list of the top 100 global thinkers.

George Mitchell, who earned a bachelor's in petroleum engineering in 1940, and Terry Engelder, who earned a doctorate from A&M in geology in 1973, were selected by Foreign Policy's editors, who noted their role in the geopolitics of energy. [read more]

In August, the Philadelphia Inquirer profiled Mitchell:

Tapping shale, seeking sustainability / A rare oilman

HOUSTON - It wouldn't be a stretch to call George P. Mitchell the father of shale gas.

The billionaire tycoon is widely credited with developing the hydraulic-fracturing technique that has triggered a rush to tap into formations like Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale. Shale-gas discoveries have added decades of supply to the nation's reserves.

[...]

What may be more surprising - especially to those who associate hydraulic fracturing with charges of environmental degradation – is that the man who pioneered shale drilling regards his fossil-fuel discoveries as secondary to his work promoting a sustainable world.

"There's no doubt this nation is strong because of oil and gas," Mitchell, 91, said in an interview Wednesday in his downtown Houston office. "But sustainability is the most important thing I'm working on." [read more]