For Ag, Every Day is Earth Day

If you’re a farmer or rancher, April 22 is just another day on the calendar because every day is Earth Day. At Encore Green Environmental, we’re an agricultural company who ultimately serves and stewards the land, the ground, the soil, terra firma – the Earth.

It’s good to celebrate the Earth, even if that means different things for different people.

·     For some, it’s a religious experience who sees Mother Earth as a force or goddess.

·     For some, it’s a celebration of a political opinion.

·     And for some, especially in ag, it’s a celebration of the soil and ecosystems that make breathing, eating, and living possible. Plus, well, we kind of like the way dirt feels to the touch. 

If you’re an environmentalist or in the ag industry or maybe you make policy or maybe you’re at an oil company, let’s do something for the Earth. Give us a call. We customize solutions to take industrial by-product water and use it to expand conservation, sequester carbon, and grow things.

You can read about our Just Add Water Initiative and how we can do it for you.

So, give a call. You know, for the sake of the earth.

818.470.0285

Think Different – Even About Water

A while back, Apple ran an ad campaign called “Think Different.” We say that it’s time to apply this thinking to how we increase conservation.

“Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” 

We’ve been called many of those things when we’ve said that by-product water can be cleaned to match the soil and then be applied in order to grow things. 

But what does that matter? The important thing is to serve other people by ignoring conventional wisdom and by thinking differently.

You with us? 

#thinkdifferent #justaddwater

“Meet the Experts” Interview with Darlene Nash

Encore Green Environmental wants you to know all there is to know about increasing all the benefits that come from applying cleaned industry by-product water to the arid land. So – we want you to meet our team of experts that are aligned with us.

Today, we hear from our owner, Darlene Nash.

EGE

Darlene, briefly describe your role at Encore Green Environmental.

DARLENE

I’m the owner of Encore Green Environmental, which I started with my husband Marvin in 2017. Being a startup, I tend to wear quite a number of hats, but I focus on keeping us heading in the right direction. That’s my main role. We have a great, but small team, and so I also just pitch in where needed. The other day, I made labels for jars of clean air. 

EGE
Jars of air?

DARLENE

Right. It was to make a point in a meeting that when you grow things, the air gets more oxygen and less carbon. It was an attention getting joke. But if you’d like to purchase some jars of clean air, just give me a call.

EGE

Tell us a little of your background and what brought you to start the company?

DARLENE

I’ve been around animals most of my life, initially training animals for the circus and for movies, most famously training the horse for the movie, Pippi Longstocking. 

When Marvin and I married, I then handled his bookings as a rodeo clown and then later, the two of us produced school programs about staying off drugs and the effects of bullying. A few years ago, I published my first book, Bullying Hurts, to give parents and others very practical help to deal with bullying. 

The idea for Encore Green Environmental came when Marvin worked at a midstream company and we’d talk about options for what to do with the enormous amount of by-product water. Our son, Skeeter, worked with Marvin hauling water and he had some of the initial ideas surrounding it.

EGE

What has drawn you to your field of expertise? That is, what’s your motivation for your work day in and day out?

DARLENE

It kind of drives me crazy to think that we’re just throwing this by-product water away. 

In one year, the oil industry has to deal with 890 million gallons of this water. And nearly all of that is literally tossed down the drain. Wyoming alone tosses 70 million gallons. And places like New Mexico have exponentially even more water to deal with. I guess if we had plenty of water to go around, that’d be one thing. But here in the West, we live on arid land.  It’s just crazy to throw away water when it’s so scarce and valuable.

We are all smarter than this. And people are finally coming around to hearing it. That’s why our solution of Conservation By-Design has arrived at just the right time. 

We can clean up that water – right there, near the oil wells that are sitting on arid land. Then, let’s increase conservation by growing things on that land. The soil is better, air is better, the aquifers aren’t being drained for other industry or ag, and it’s all because everything gets better when you just add water.

That’s why our company’s slogan and the name of our new initiative we’re doing is called ‘Just Add Water.’ 

EGE

Tell us more about the ‘Just Add Water’ Initiative.

DARLENE

It’s a coalition of ourselves, the Wyoming Stock Grower’s Association, Beneficial-Use Water Alliance, and the University of Wyoming’s Center of Excellence in Produced Water Management. We want to encourage all the stakeholders, from the oil companies to the landowners, to the environmentalists, to get on board cleaning this water and applying to the land. 

EGE

What’s the one thing you’d like the reader to remember about you?

DARLENE

I guess that I’m a mother and grandmother trying to make a difference in this world.

Everything’s Better When You ‘Just Add Water’

At Encore Green Environmental we’ve kicked off our initiative called ‘Just Add Water.’ It’s a simple idea – instead of disposing of industrial by-product water into injection wells, let’s clean it up and apply it to the arid, thirsty land.

Over 40% of our nation is arid and most of that is in the western states, which also happens to be the major oil producing states. This intersection of where we need water (arid lands) and where we have too much water (oil wells) is our unique opportunity.

You can read all about it by going hereand downloading our free pdf called ‘Just Add Water’ Initiative. You don’t have to sign up and we don’t collect your email or anything. It’s just a downloadable pdf that will outline what we mean when we say everything changes by adding water.

Go here: 

EncoreGreenEnvironmental.com/resources

You’ll be glad you did.

Conservation By-Design - The Animation!

If a picture’s worth a thousand words, then a short piece of animation has to be worth at least a million! So, here’s a million words that explains how Encore Green Environmental can use their proprietary methodology, Conservation By-Design to take the millions of gallons of industrial by-product water and put it to good use for ag and conservation.

See, we think throwing water down an injection well is just a waste. But if we re-purpose that water and grow things on previously arid land, then everyone wins. All we have to do is ‘just add water.’

Take a look at the short video!

MEET THE EXPERTS – DR. BRANT

Encore Green Environmental wants you to know all there is to know about increasing all the benefits that come from applying cleaned industry by-product water to the arid land. So – we want you to meet our team of experts that are aligned with us.

Today, we hear from Dr. Jonathan Brant,Associate Professor / Director of the Center of Excellence in Produced Water Management, University of Wyoming

EGE

Dr. Brant, thanks for chatting with us today. Briefly describe your role at the CEPWM.

DR. BRANT

I direct a group of scientists, engineers and other professionals who have the shared goal of making produced (byproduct) water an economically viable and environmentally sustainable option. My research efforts specifically focus on developing separation processes for removing solids, hydrocarbons, and salts from water. 

EGE

Thanks. What’s your background? 

DR. BRANT

All of my degrees are in civil engineering. I obtained my BS at the Virginia Military Institute in 1998 and my MS and PhD degrees at the University of Nevada, Reno in 2000 and 2003, respectively. During my graduate study I worked under the guidance of Dr. Amy Childress who is a well-known leader in membrane technologies. After graduate school I worked as a post-doctoral researcher at Rice University from 2004 to 2006 and then at Duke University from 2006 to 2007. During this time, I worked for Dr. Mark Wiesner to develop new engineered nanomaterials for various environmental applications, including desalination processes. I then transitioned to private industry working as a consulting engineer for HDR Engineering before joining the faculty at the University of Wyoming in 2008. 

 EGE

What has drawn you to your field of expertise? That is, what’s your motivation for your work day in and day out?

DR. BRANT

I have a deep and sincere passion for environmental preservation. My guiding belief is that the health and long-term viability of human civilization is directly dependent on how we interact with our environment. To this end, water management is a foundational principle for sustainable societies.

EGE

What’s been one professional success you’re proud of?

DR. BRANT

I am most proud of my students, both undergraduate and graduate, that have gone on to be leaders in the environmental engineering field. Seeing the “spark” in their intellectual curiosity as they go through school is a very powerful moment. I am also very proud of the role that our Center has played in moving produced (byproduct) water reuse a more viable and visible option. 

EGE

What’s one unusual or little-known fact about you? 

DR. BRANT

I live in a house of women – my lovely wife, four amazing daughters and my dog (a girl picked by my daughters)! This was a big change in lifestyle considering I went to an all-male college. Also, my wife and I were high school sweethearts. 

EGE

From your point of view and expertise, what do you think of the “Just Add Water Initiative?

DR. BRANT

My belief is that acceptance of this initiative has been a long time coming! Water is a scarce resource, and in the West, it is becoming more scarce for a host of reasons. Making use of all of our water resources will be necessary as we move through the 21stCentury much as we did and continue to do with municipal water reuse. Previously, people would say that the technology was not there to treat and reuse produced waters or that it was too expensive. Neither of these statements or beliefs is true any longer in my opinion. The technology is certainly there. Stakeholders are only waiting on someone else to “prove it”, which is unfortunately common in water related applications. Cost wise there has been an incomplete accounting of the value of water. Too often when stakeholders speak of the cost of water management they focus only on the cost to put it back down hole while ignoring other costs like transporting the water and spillage/remediation. There are also many economic benefits to be had, like those summarized in the Just Add Water Imitative – carbon credits, agricultural security arising from drought proof water availability, and reductions in the costs of acquiring process water. So you can see I am a strong supporter of this imitative! 

 EGE

From your point of view and expertise, what is the benefit of increasing soil health?

DR. BRANT

The loss of natural grasslands and other systems is obvious to anyone that has taken a plane ride across our nation or viewed aerial images of for example the rain forests of Brazil. In fact, the natural vegetative cover in Wyoming has changed dramatically over the past 100 yrs through over grazing of cattle and changes in water availability, amongst other reasons. Deagradation and loss of our soil health has serious implications for our agricultural productivity, loss of soil through erosion, and ecosystem sustainability. Improving soil health is therefore needed to combat these, and many other, negative outcomes. One obvious area that must be addressed is finding a way to feed the nearly 10 billion people that are projected to occupy Earth by 2050. This can only be done by improving the productivity of our lands, while keeping a keen eye on environmental sustainability. Both of these goals may be reached through better use of our water resources and incorporating innovative soil management strategies. 

EGE

Could you briefly describe carbon sequestration and how introducing a new source of water facilitates it?

DR. BRANT

Traditionally when we think of carbon sequestration we envision storing liquefied CO2 in deep subsurface formations. But there are many ways to “store” carbon. Another way is through the natural photosynthetic process where plants take in carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. The plants use a portion of this CO2 for a variety of processes and the remainder is sent into the soil through the root system. This carbon becomes part of the soil, improving its overall health and ability to retain water. Some studies have indicated that this carbon can be stable for many thousands of years thereby keeping it out of the atmosphere. 

EGE

Can you tell us one thing that excites you about the potential of adding a new source of water to the arid western state?

I am most excited about seeing how this will benefit both nature and man. We will see a rebirth in our natural grassland systems, which will benefit struggling mule deer and other groups. For us, we will see improvements in agricultural systems (feed stocks for cattle amongst others) and expedited vegetative remediation of well pads and industry impacted areas. Finally, I am perhaps most excited about seeing a sea change in how we as a society view water!

Want Water?

We all need water. And not just to brush our teeth in the morning. Water does all sorts of things for us – and growing things is one of the most important. 

Without water, our land is dry dirt. Winds take off the top soil. The nutrients in the soil die. We’ve all seen dry, cracked land, especially out here in the West. Heck, they even named it the Arid West because we just don’t get enough water 

But -- what if we could introduce a NEW source of water into the Arid West. Well, pretty soon, we’d just call it the West. Because being arid would be a thing of the past. 

Here’s the good news. We can do that. Right now. The intersection of oil wells and arid land is the point of opportunity. 

The oil wells pump out 3 to 6 times the amount of water as they do crude oil. This by-product water can be cleaned and put out onto the surrounding arid land. And what do you get when you get water?

Things that grow.

Conservation increases. Soil becomes healthy. Carbon is taken out of the air. The aquifer is protected. All because the “arid land” becomes “just land.” 

Land with water equals things that grow.

What will you grow?

Let’s talk about it. 818.470.0285.

Or just read about it: www.encoregreenenvironmental.com/cbd

No, You First

There are only a few business people who are willing to try something new. This isn’t to be negative, it’s just a fact. Statistically we are mostly wired to be risk-averse and go with the flow. 

But in business, if you are the one standing in the doorway, saying, “You go first,” then you will soon find that the door is closed and you can’t enter in.

The ‘Just Add Water’ Initiative is a way for oil producers, land owners, growers, and environmentalists to walk through the door to a better future of water in the West. Cleaning the oilfield by-product water and applying it on the ground for ag and conservation introduces a new source of water to the arid land with staggering benefits:

o  Soil health improves. 

o  Carbon is pulled from the air. 

o  Vegetation grows. 

o  The aquifer is protected. 

o  Growers increase. 

All of that happens if you ‘Just Add Water.’

But you have to walk through the door. Holding it open for others won’t do you any good. Thoughts on this?

Give a call. We love to chat about it. 818.470.0285

It is Broken – So Fix

When we began to advocate to take oilfield by-product water, clean it up, and apply it on the land for ag and conservation, we kept hearing – “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” 

Okay, they didn’t really say it like that. 

They said things like, “This is very interesting.” “Well, if you can make that work, that’d be good.” “You keep at it and let us know how it’s going.” But no one really took it seriously.

That was then.

Today, we have proposals in for 5 projects across 3 states. Legislation in multiple states are wanting to see an alternative to injection of by-product water become real. The tide has shifted and it’s coming in.

And it’s coming in hard. 

We encourage all stakeholders to take a second look at this. Own land? Work at an oil company? Grow things for a living? Make policy? We need to talk.

The system is broken, unfriendly to the environment, and keeps the dry lands of the West dry. 

It’s broken. So, let’s fix it together.

Thoughts on this? Give a call. We love to chat about it. 818.470.0285

The ‘Just Add Water’ Initiative – Interview with a Plant

The ‘Just Add Water’ Initiative is a joint project of Encore Green Environmental, Beneficial-Use Water Alliance, and the University of Wyoming’s Center of Excellence in Produced Water Management.

We are interviewing a number of experts about how adding water onto the land of the arid western states changes everything. 

So, we thought we’d start with an interview with some vegetation. Now, we know plants don’t talk. But if they could, it’d go something like this:

INTERVIEWER: Thank you speaking with us today . . . uh, do you have a name?

PLANT: I’m just a plant.

INTERVIEWER: Is your first name Robert? Get it? Robert Plant?

PLANT: I don’t get it. 

INTERVIEWER: Never mind. Can you tell us what you like to do in your spare time?

PLANT: I don’t have spare time. I spend all day taking in sunshine, releasing oxygen, and sequestering carbon dioxide.

INTERVIEWER: Can you tell us more about this sequestering thing?

PLANT: Underground, my roots and the surrounding soil love carbon. I mean, really love carbon. So, above ground we pull in carbon dioxide and so we can lock it away in the roots and soil. 

INTERVIEWER: So, you’re like nature’s vacuum cleaner.

PLANT: I don’t get it.

INTERVIEWER: Never mind. So, you have fun all day sequestering carbon?

PLANT: When I get to, yes. But because I’m a plant in the arid western states, we don’t have much water. Without water I can’t do much. My leaves turn brown.  I wilt and there’s not much sequestering of carbon going on.

INTERVIEWER: So, you support The ‘Just Add Water’ Initiative?

PLANT: Yes! All of plants do. Even the trees are getting in the action. Everything changes when you add water. I grow. I sequester carbon. And I can achieve major conservation goals. But you gotta give me water. 

So, that’s what the vegetation thinks. What do you think? We’d love to hear from you