On Tuesday, October 2, Hefner and his wife, MeiLi, visited The Webb Schools for a full day of classroom visits and a special convocation for students and faculty. The Hefners first attended Honors Biology class where students were learning about natural selection and conducting a lab on the same subject. Next, they participated in an in-class debate on the issue of fracking and natural gas extraction with John Lawrence’s AP Environmental Science class.
Robert Hefner has a long and distinguished career in natural gas exploration and helping shape energy policies of the United States. His recent documentary, “The Grand Energy Transition,” was shown to the Webb community and followed by a round-table discussion during a recent formal dinner on campus.
Under a backdrop of Ray Alf’s portrait, Hefner’s mentor at Webb, he spoke and then took questions from the Webb community. Hefner was warmly received by the students and faculty who gathered, evidenced by their engaging questions on the subject of the future of America’s energy production and technological advancement in natural gas extraction.
Taylor Stockdale introduced Robert Hefner with the following: “I think it was back in 1995, one of the first peccary dinners we ever had. I looked up on the stage and saw four of the great educators here at Webb. I saw Malcolm McKenna, Ray Alf, Dr. Lofgren, and Robert Hefner. Robert, you stood there and honored your mentor, Ray Alf, on his 90th birthday that night, by recalling that he had taught you to think differently at the age of fifteen; that he had taught you to look at your role in the world differently, and that at that moment he had a lasting effect on your life. I remember Ray’s response to you was to say that he learned as much from his students as they learned from him. That’s the true essence of the Webb experience, for me. We have great students and teachers living and working alongside each other, and that’s the power of mentorship that we should think about tonight when Mr. Hefner speaks.”
Hefner took the podium and reflected on his early inspiration as a student at Webb. “I’m incredibly excited to be here. Taylor, you were right to speak about relationships and what you take from them and what you can give to them, because that’s what keeps bringing me here. One of my first relationships and first mentors was Ray Alf. It’s his spirit, how he taught, and the depth of his spirit that certainly brought me through some very difficult periods of my life. He was an incredible man, and he lives with us all.
For over 35 years, Oklahoman entrepreneur and energy futurist Robert A. Hefner III ’53 has had a vision: an America fueled not by coal and oil, but by natural gas. As he explains in his 2009 book The Grand Energy Transition, Hefner believes that natural gas can meet America’s energy needs while ending our dependence on foreign oil, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and revitalizing the U.S. economy.
Hefner’s thesis is that human civilization is entering the next phase in our energy evolution: from inefficient, dirty solid fuels (wood and coal) to liquids (oil and gasoline) to gases (natural gas and wind power). Each past transition has sparked a quantum leap in technological and economic growth, and Hefner believes that natural gas – allied with wind and solar power – will be as important to the 21st century as coal and oil were to the 19th and 20th. Better yet, the technology and infrastructure for that transition already exist and need only be scaled up. Hefner calls natural gas “a transformation fuel” and “the bridge fuel to our sustainable future.”
A Lifelong Crusade
Hefner became interested in natural gas while studying geology at the University of Oklahoma. In 1959 he co-founded the GHK Company, a pioneer in the field of “deep gas”: wells drilled to depths of 15,000 feet or more. Hefner soon became convinced that America’s usable reserves of natural gas were far greater than anyone had previously believed – enough for at least 100 years.
While Hefner is confident that natural gas is the future, convincing others has been a protracted struggle, testing his intellectual courage and resolve. Although his lobbying led to a boom in gas drilling in the early ‘70s, he says GHK was often a hair’s breadth away from bankruptcy. His efforts faced a major setback in 1977, when, despite Hefner’s passionate testimony, energy experts (many, Hefner says, hired by big oil) persuaded the Carter administration to pass legislation sharply restricting natural gas development, which led to a resurgence of coal. The ground lost by the gas industry during those years has only recently been regained.
Natural gas remains controversial, due mainly to concerns about the environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” a drilling technique to release gas trapped inside deep layers of shale. Environmentalists charge that the fracture fluid can contaminate groundwater and even trigger small earthquakes. Hefner counters that the risks associated with fracking are far less than the hazards posed by coal, although he has called for rigorous standards to ensure that drillers do not damage the environment.
Hefner is accustomed to being perceived as a maverick, but he has won a growing number of high-profile supporters, including media mogul Ted Turner, former CIA director John Deutch (now an MIT professor) and former Secretary of Energy James Schlesinger, while Hefner’s speaking engagements at venues like the Aspen Institute routinely draw large crowds. In 2010, he was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame.
To read more about Robert Hefner's "The Grand Energy Transition," click here.