Please join the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines as we welcome Fellow Trisha Curtis, President and CEO, PetroNerds LLC, presenting a hybrid seminar titled Geopolitics of Oil and Gas on Tuesday, February 28, 203 from noon-1pm MT in the Ben H. Parker Student Center, Ballroom D&E.  Free lunch provided.

Trisha Curtis is the President and CEO of PetroNerds, LLC. She founded the company and began running it out of Denver in 2016. She was formerly the Director of Research, Upstream and Midstream, at the Energy Policy Research Foundation, Inc. (EPRINC) in Washington, DC. Since 2010, she has led extensive research efforts and major consulting projects and authored several reports on the North American upstream and midstream markets for government agencies, global think tanks, and corporations.

She was also the Manager for Strategy and Analytics at Anschutz Exploration in Denver, Colorado from 2019 to 2020.

At PetroNerds, Ms. Curtis leads research and consulting services. She is a macroeconomist with an expertise in US shale markets. She is globally recognized for her knowledge of US shale and has been asked to speak and present at several forums including OPEC in Vienna, Austria, in Bahrain, and in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Stanford University, Chatham House, Oxford University, Denver University, and Colorado School of Mines. She is also the host of the PetroNerds Podcast.
Trisha evaluates US and North American upstream markets on a wells-up basis with critical analysis of individual operators, assets, reservoirs, and plays. She provides clients with in-depth analysis of the US shale industry and the global oil market and synthesizes this into relevant, actionable, and forecastable information integral to her clients and their respective businesses.

Ms. Curtis has traveled to the Middle East and participated as a keynote speaker at an SPE Unconventional Workshop in addition to an investor panel with the Oil Minister of Bahrain.

In November 2017 Ms. Curtis released her report “Completion Design Changes and the Impact on US Shale Well Productivity.” In November 2016 Ms. Curtis released a report with Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES) on US well productivity gains over the course of the downturn. This followed an extensive report she completed in November 2015 on the state of U.S. shale oil in a low oil price environment.

She spearheaded EPRINC’s projects with Department of Energy for the Quadrennial Energy Review, evaluating future North American crude oil production volumes and midstream transportation options through 2030. She worked extensively with US and Canadian railroads in their efforts to begin moving Bakken crude, by rail, to the East Coast.

Her work for Department of Defense has focused extensively on China, international economics, and US Shale.

Ms. Curtis is a Research Associate at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES), a recognized independent center of Oxford University, and a Distinguished Fellow at the Energy Policy Research Foundation, Inc. (EPRINC). She is also a Fellow at Colorado School of Mine’s Payne Institute.

Ms. Curtis completed her undergraduate work at Regis University in Denver, Colorado where she double majored in Economics and Politics, minored in Criminology, and graduated Summa Cum Laude. She has a Master of Science (MSc) degree from the London School of Economics in International Political Economy and wrote her MSc Dissertation on Chinese National Oil Companies. As an undergraduate, she also worked as a staff assistant in UK Parliament for John Grogan, Selby Constituency. Raised in northwest Colorado and southwest Wyoming, she grew up around pump jacks and has worked on oil and gas sites in Colorado and Wyoming with her father.

Please join SXSW and the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines as we welcome Dr. Morgan Bazilian, Director, Payne Institute, presenting a seminar titled The EV Battery Supply Chain Paradox on Saturday, March 11, 2023 at SXSW in Austin Texas from 11:30AM – 12:30PM CT.

Electrifying our transportation system and expanding the role of EV batteries to reduce GHG emissions requires increased mining and processing of critical minerals, putting traditional environmental concerns between a rock and a hard place. The recent bipartisan infrastructure law includes domestic production requirements for the EV tax credit, which could be impossible to achieve in the current landscape. Moreover, relying on imports of critical minerals from countries with questionable environmental and labor practices would undermine responsible actors. Can new domestic mining techniques break through the impasse? This expert panel will drill deep to separate the diamond from the rough for a productive path forward.

Co-Presenters:

• Morgan Bazilian, Payne Institute, Colorado School Of Mines
• Danny Broberg, Bipartisan Policy Center
• Kelly Fleming, Institute For Transportation Decarbonization

Please join the Mines Distinguished Lecture Series at the Colorado School of Mines as we welcome Dr. Ryan Richards, Professor of Chemistry, Colorado School of Mines, presenting a hybrid seminar titled Perspectives in Chemistry and Community on Wednesday, March 7, 2023 at 3:30pm MT in the Ben F. Parker Student Center, Grand Ballrooms, Colorado School of Mines, 1200 16th Street, Golden, CO 80401 or virtually via Zoom.

Mines is a unique university in a particularly rich collaborative ecosystem with numerous partners in national labs, education (preschool to higher ed), industry and a broader community embracing sustainability and knowledge. Here, I will discuss perspectives on the multiple roles of chemistry (research, teaching, mentoring, and service) in this ecosystem and beyond.

Addressing grand challenges in energy and sustainability requires scientists to work closely with researchers across all disciplines to consider and develop a fundamental understanding of multiple and new perspectives. From chemistry, we need new materials with new properties composed of non-toxic and abundantly available resources (earth abundant elements). The toolbox to imparting new properties to matter includes our ability to synthesize new compositions of matter with controlled size, morphology (shape) and surfaces. Breakthroughs from our group have demonstrated earth abundant materials tailored on the nanoscale possess unique properties for carbon capture, batteries and catalysis including electrocatalytic water splitting that will be highlighted.

Finally, as thought leaders in our community, it is our role to engage broadly and foster the passion for a new generation to bring their diverse perspectives to our global challenges. All of this is built “on the shoulders of giants,” whereby the body of knowledge we have learned from our predecessors allows us to see farther than they, and will allow those we educate and mentor to have new perspectives and see even farther.

Ryan M. Richards is a Professor of Chemistry at the Colorado School of Mines (Mines) and holds a joint appointment at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) both in Golden, Colorado USA. Additionally, Dr. Richards is the Mines lead for the Mines/NREL Nexus which coordinates, facilitates and promotes all joint activities and appointments. Prof. Richards received his BS from Michigan State University, BS Central Michigan University and Phd from Kansas State University. During his Phd studies he was a visiting scientist at the Boreskov Institute of Catalysis in Novosibirsk, Russia.  From 2000-2002 he was a Max Planck Fellow at the Max Planck Institute für Kohlenforschung in Mülheim, Germany. In 2002 Ryan joined the International University of Bremen where he was promoted to associate professor before moving to Mines in 2007. Prof. Richards has published more than 160 papers, 7 patents and has served as editor/co-editor of 3 nanoscience books. He has received numerous awards throughout his career including being selected as a Fellow of the American Chemical Society (<0.5% members) and 2016 ACS Colorado Section Award. Prof. Richards has been elected by his peers into numerous positions including: Co-Chair of 2017 NAM of the North American Catalysis Society (the largest catalysis conference in North America); 2011 ACS Chair of Nanoscience; 2012 Chair Colorado Section of ACS; ACS Nanoscience Programming Chair 2011-2015; ACS International Affairs Committee 2021-present (ACS liason to Nigeria and South Africa); VIPEr Fellow (inorganic chemistry pedagogy) 2020-present.

Policymakers in the United States and worldwide have called for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 to slow the rate of global warming, but the transition to renewable energy and zero-carbon will be metal and mineral intensive. Demand is forecasted to increase by nearly 500% for some of the elements required for renewable energy and energy storage, such as cobalt, gallium, germanium, indium, tellurium, and vanadium. Although new approaches to generate supply of critical minerals are likely to secure resources and economic benefits, they also carry potential for significant environmental and social impacts, unevenly distributed across landscapes and communities. Through convergence among the paradigms of resource efficiency, sustainable development, and environmental justice, our interdisciplinary team is evaluating three scenarios: 1) new mines targeting a critical element as the main commodity; 2) byproduct recovery of critical elements from existing mining operations; and 3) critical element recovery from historic mine wastes. In this talk Dr. Holley will use case studies to describe some of the challenges and opportunities in each of these mineral development scenarios, highlighting the value of collaboration among geoscientists, engineers, and social scientists.

Dr. Elizabeth Holley is a mineral exploration and mining geologist. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mining Engineering at Colorado School of Mines, with a joint appointment in the Department of Geology and Geological Engineering. She is a Fellow of the Payne Institute for Public Policy and was the 2022 Distinguished Lecturer for the Society of Economic Geologists. Dr. Holley has worked in the mining sector on five continents and contributed to the discovery of the White Gold deposit in the Yukon. She recently finished an NSF Career project on Carlin type gold, and an NSF PIRE project on artisanal mining in Latin America. Dr. Holley leads the Responsible Critical Minerals Initiative funded by the National Science Foundation and serves as a site director for the NSF-funded CASERM center.

Please join the Canadian American Business Council and the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines as we welcome moderator Giselle Commissiong, Global Lead, Hatch Advisory, at the Canada / US Cooperation on the Development, Processing and Recycling of Critical Minerals on Monday, February 27, 2023 in Denver.

On Monday, February 27th, 2023, the CABC’s Board of Directors, the Consul General of Canada, and the Director of the Payne Institute of the Colorado School of Mines will host a roundtable discussion on Canada-US Cooperation on the Development, Processing, and Recycling of Critical Minerals in Denver, Colorado. The discussion will be moderated by the Giselle Commissiong, Global Lead for Hatch Advisory.

Please join the Payne Institute for Public Policy Sustainable Finance Lab at the Colorado School of Mines as we welcome Sam Arnold, Co-Founder and COO, CarbonPath, presenting at virtual seminar titled A Novel Approach to Fund the Premature Shutting Down of Oil and Gas Wells on Thursday, February 9, 2023 from 10am – 11am MT.

CarbonPath has developed a registry which is changing the carbon offset markets. By focusing on industrial solutions, we believe that we can achieve a meaningful impact in the fight against climate change. And by placing our methodologies and data on the Celo blockchain, we can achieve the full transparency that the market needs to advance. CarbonPath’s first two methodologies are focused on reducing emissions from the energy industry and the company is kicking off its public comment period on the methodology for premature shutting down of oil and gas wells. This talk will discuss this necessary, impactful, and novel approach.

Sam Arnold is Co-Founder and COO of CarbonPath. His previous experience includes investment management on the buy side as an Energy portfolio manager at Citadel and the portfolio manager for Brookfield’s Global Listed Infrastructure products and on the sell side as an analyst at Credit-Suisse focusing on the pipeline sector. Sam began his career as an engineer with ExxonMobil. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois and an MBA from Tulane University.

Please join the IFC and the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines for the virtual launch of IFC’s Net Zero Roadmap to 2050 for Copper & Nickel Mining Value Chains on Monday, January 30, 2023 from 8:30am – 9:30am MT.

Please join us for the launch of IFC’s Net Zero Roadmap to 2050 for Copper & Nickel Mining Value Chains, a net zero transition guide for copper and nickel mining value chain actors. The roadmap was developed in consultation with a wide range of mining industry stakeholders, including leading mining companies such as Anglo American, Rio Tinto, BHP, and Vale; investors; OEMs; EV transport companies; and battery manufacturers, along with representatives from civil society, government, and academia.

During the launch event, we will discuss:

• The energy transition metals that are key for a global low-carbon future
• The technologies that will enable a net zero transition
• The net zero challenge for copper and nickel mining value chains

The new roadmap sets out a science-based net zero transition strategy for copper and nickel mining value chains. It highlights how mining sector actors can lower their emissions footprints, including scopes 1 and 2, and a subset of scope 3. It shows how to take advantage of the growth in demand coming from end users such as EVs, solar, wind, and storage. And it demonstrates how a net zero strategy offers opportunities to improve broader ESG impacts and performance, access sustainable finance, and contribute to a just energy transition.

Please join CSIS and the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines as we welcome Dr. Morgan Bazilian, Director, Payne Institute, for a virtual seminar titled Mining, Climate Risks, and the Western Hemisphere on Wednesday, January 25, 2023 from 8:00am – 9:00am MT.

Join the CSIS Americas Program for a timely and important conversation on Mining, Climate Risks, and the Western Hemisphere.

Rapidly growing demand for clean energy technologies has made apparent the need for a mining renaissance in order to enable the carbon transition. Many of the critical technologies needed to achieve net-zero emissions, from electric vehicles to renewable energy-capture infrastructure, all necessitate large inputs of minerals and metals. Indeed, the average electric car requires six times the mineral inputs compared to fossil fuels, while the average American is estimated to consume three million pounds of minerals, metals, and fuels over their lifetime. However, meeting demand in a sustainable and secure manner requires a critical examination of mining supply chains, from social and environmental concerns to geopolitical factors stemming from China’s dominance in mineral processing, to the long time horizons associated with identifying and scaling up new mines.

This event will focus on how the United States can work with partner countries in Latin America, such as Chile and Peru, to transition to clean energy technologies for mining through development institutions and policy making. Specifically, it will focus on how the mining of resources like copper and lithium, which are necessary to produce clean energy technologies, can be extracted in a sustainable manner, and one which contributes to the economic empowerment of local communities. It will also discuss how the United States can calibrate its policy to build ecologically sustainable and socially licensed mining in Latin America.

This event was made possible with the generous support of Freeport-McMoRan.

Please join the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines as we welcome Dr. David Newbery, Emeritus Professor and Director of The Energy Policy Research Group (EPRG) – Cambridge University, presenting a virtual seminar titled The Evolution of GB Electricity Markets and Regulation on Wednesday, February 1, 2023 from 9am-10am MT.

The UK was the first country in Europe to privatize and regulate its electricity supply industry from 1989, and led the way for subsequent EU reforms. However, the initial reform led to market power that prompted the Government to move from the Pool-based central dispatch design to an energy-only market (subsequently adopted by the EU) in 2001. That design failed to deliver adequate new flexible capacity and poor delivery of renewable electricity, prompting the 2013 Energy Act. That created a capacity market, a carbon price floor and Contracts for Difference with Feed-in-Tariffs for renewables, initially with a bureaucratic strike price, subsequently with auctions. In 2019 the Government announced tough decarbonisation targets for 2035, arguing that the existing market design would not deliver that target without further reform, discussed in the lecture. The Russian invasion and resulting energy crisis has complicated that reform, and learning how to cope continues.

Professor David Newbery, PhD., ScD., CBE, FBA, is the Director of the Cambridge Energy Policy Research Group and Emeritus Professor of Applied Economics at the University of Cambridge. He has been President of the European Economic Association, 1996 and President of the International Association for Energy Economics, 2013. Educated at Cambridge with degrees in Mathematics and Economics, and a PhD in Economics, he has active research on electricity market integration, network charging, financing and integrating zero-carbon technologies (wind, PV, hydro, nuclear), the design of energy policy and energy taxation.

Please join the Materials Research Society and the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines as we welcome Dr. Morgan Bazilian presenting a virtual seminar titled Energy Geopolitics, Security, and Critical Minerals at the Materials Challenges for the Energy Transition Workshop on Thursday, January 19, 2023 from 9:05am-9:35am MT.  

The workshop theme Materials Challenges for the Energy Transition includes materials and technology development, applications, policy, and sustainability considerations. Discussions will include where the field stands, trends in recent years, global influences, unexpected trajectories, exciting goals and challenges to be addressed, and directions the field may take in the near future.

January 18, 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm EST, 5pm-8pm MT
January 19, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm EST, 8am-11am MT