We spoke with Cary Baird for the summer 2024 issue of Headwaters magazine focused on industrial water use. Cary is a Policy, Government, and Public Affairs Representative at Chevron and a current member of the Water Education Colorado Board of Trustees.
What are some ways, both direct and indirect, that your role interacts with water issues in the oil/gas industry?
I’m a Colorado native, so I understand the environment in which we work. I also started my career with Chevron on the Western Slope, so I understand what’s going on over there in terms of the Colorado River. All you have to do is fly into Grand Junction and take a look around the airport. On one side of the irrigation ditch. It’s green and beautiful. On the other side, it is brown and desert. That tells you what water does and what it brings to a community, how important it really is. I came to my business unit job with a deep understanding of the importance of water in Colorado. When I got here, people weren’t really talking a lot about water, but I’ve felt and believed that they would be very shortly. I began looking for partnerships that we could use, such as WEco, to be able to say, we care about water. We’re working to help people develop best practices. We’re helping to educate people. I think that’s important, as we all move forward in this new normal, with climate change. So that is what I’ve been trying to do since I got here. I put myself into the water innovation team at Chevron and I put together their very first water communication strategy which takes all of the different milestones they are trying to achieve in their operational side, their innovation side, and technology, and [ask] how can we begin to talk about those things externally? That is the kind of work that I do.
Can you share with us a little background on your career and how it’s led to your involvement in the water conversation?
I am a Cancer zodiac sign which is a water sign and I absolutely live that in my life. I have always loved water in any shape or form: rivers, lakes, reservoirs, oceans, doesn’t matter. My real working career started with Coors Brewing Company, and at that point in time I was very interested in all things connected to knowing where the water they used came from. I met a man who managed the company’s water rights, and I became utterly fascinated by it (water rights). That translated into a general interest in water quality and water quantity. Before I left Coors, I started running a program called Pure Water 2000, designed to give away funding to organizations that were working to improve water quality. Then, I started at CH2MHill, a non-profit organization that worked a lot in Israel and Palestine to develop water resources, treat water, and then deliver it to people in Palestine and Israel. When I went to work at Chevron, my first assignment was in the Midcontinent Business unit, and I got embedded with the water team in that part of the company. That project was designed to both develop cost-effective ways to treat produced water, which is a byproduct of oil and gas production, and then also explore beneficial reuse at some level. That project is still underway. Then, I moved over to the Rocky Mountain Business Unit and I’ve also gotten to work with the water team here. I have watched them participate in the Colorado Produced Water Consortium. I’m just all about water, wherever I go.
After reading the Chevron Water Statement, what are some ways Chevron’s mission to conserve, reuse, and recycle water is applied specifically in Western Colorado?
First of all, our water statement on our website is a really broad statement, because it has to address the work we do all around the globe [including] different geographic areas, different political environments, different social environments, and different resource environments. There are a number of key components that [have] to do with integrating water efficiency and water conservation into all of our planning decisions, which is very important. We work with governments and other non-governmental organizations to find solutions to water issues. We keep metrics on water and we make sure to take into account the use of water across the entire platform of Chevron. I’m in corporate affairs where we deal with social investment and building partnerships. At Chevron, we have a very strong water innovation team that works on water metrics and designing assets and things that use less water. On the Western Slope, a lot of what we do is [focused] on partnerships. The first one I want to mention is the Colorado Mesa University Water Center. We have been a founding partner in that organization since 2012. They have done amazing work to bring in research professionals. They’ve had conferences on best practices and water conservation, water treatment, dealing with soil around water and riparian areas. They’ve also done a whole lot of public outreach, which is tremendous. I think it [education] is very important.
The second one I want to mention is Colorado Canyons Association. They are a nonprofit that works with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to be a steward of three major canyons on rivers in Colorado: the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, the Dominguez, and the Colorado River. They do a lot of public education about managing that water. They’re a marvelous organization, and water is kind of the bedrock of what they do. The other one is Rivers Edge West, formerly the Tamarisk Coalition. They initially started trying to figure out how to remove tamarisk trees from the edges of water. [Tamarisks] use a lot of water and they’re not good for the ground around the water. [Rivers Edge West] is a very strong research-oriented organization. They have a big conference every year, bringing professionals from all around the region to talk about their best practices and what they’re learning. They also do actual hands-on work as well. We support that work, and that partnership is very important to us.
We also have a partnership here on the front range with Central Colorado Water Conservancy up in the Loveland area. We support the Children’s Water Festival, which is a great way to educate kids early about water. We [also] support some other education programs around agriculture and urban water usage. And of course, how can I forget? WEco! That’s a really important partner. We [also] support different activities within the government. We participate in the water consortium here in Colorado. We share our point of view about water rules and attempt to present a very factual and science-based point of view
I think it’s really important to note that my business unit, the Rockies business unit, is barely three years old. This business unit was formed when Chevron first acquired Noble Energy back in 2020, and then we recently acquired PDC Energy. When you bring together a thousand people from three different corporations, everybody comes with their ideas, their standard procedures, and their own best practices. It takes a while to get all of that sorted out. While I don’t want to apologize for what we’ve done as a business unit because we’ve done a lot of work. I think it’s important to recognize that we are still striving. We’re still learning every single day, and beginning to look at different ways that we can recycle, produce water, and then reuse it in our operations.
What is something that would be surprising for people to learn about the relationship between water and oil/gas?
Well, I think one of the things I would want people to know, and I think a lot of people don’t know, is that the number one user and number one consumer of water in Colorado is agriculture. We grow so many wonderful crops here on both the front range and the western slope, and they take about 87% of all of the water in the State that’s available for consumption. Municipal organizations, like towns and cities, and industry make up a little over 6%, maybe closer to 7%. But it’s a huge difference, and yet people tend to think that industry is the biggest user of water in the State, and frankly, everywhere. But that is just really not at all the case. I say that not to disparage agriculture, or to say that they should not be using water. I say that to make people aware. There are lots and lots of users of water. One of our challenges in Colorado is to be able to figure out a way to divide that water up in a fair and equitable way while meeting the needs of people. Another thing that people don’t realize is the amount of effort, human resource and financial resources, that companies like Chevron actually put towards water issues. We have a company called Chevron Technology Company, that stays on top of all the latest developments and technology and water management in our industry. We have a team of three or four people in our business unit who are working solely on water, doing research, and partnering with organizations like the CSU Spur, so we can do a better job of what we do without using as much water. I don’t think people really know that about us.
In your opinion, what do you think consumers should be aware of when thinking about water-informed purchases and what makes Chevron unique?
I think people should know where they get their water from. Does it come from a well? Does it come from a river? What is the source? And the second thing I would say is people should know and pay attention to the quality of that water. Most municipal organizations that provide water do regular sampling and testing that they publish. I encourage people to know what’s in their water and know where it comes from. And then I guess the last thing I would say is, don’t use plastic. Use glass. Use aluminum. Don’t use plastic.
In regards to Chevron as a company, we participate in a whole host of sustainability-oriented organizations. We also report regularly on our water usage as an entire company. Those metrics can be found in our annual report and in our sustainability report. We stand by our word. We report on what we do, and we invite others to look and see what we’re doing. People should know that we participate in so many of these other sustainability organizations. Primarily because we learn a lot. We share info, they share info, and it’s a great opportunity to learn.
What led you to be on the board for Water Education Colorado and do you have anything to say about your time on the board or our work?
Making the connection with WEco was an amazing experience because I wrote an email. I cold called. I had to talk to a lot of people. I had to share information about what Chevron does, and finally they agreed to be a partner with us. That was the first hurdle. And then as I learned more and more about WEco, I talked to Chris Trees, who is also a board member I know from my years of working on the Western slope. I just said to him, if there’s ever an opening for a board member I would be interested. I kind of put myself out there. It follows what goes into my whole philosophy of following your path. That’s how I became a board member, and I’m so happy I did that. I’m so amazed by the work that WEco does in terms of leadership, developing new leaders in water, and the advocacy that is done. The publications that are done are amazing. I’m actually on the Program Development Committee for WEco which oversees the implementation of the educational programs which includes publications. I love that work, and I love the work WEco does. I’m fully committed to it.
Stay tuned for more about industrial water use in Colorado in the summer 2024 issue of Headwaters magazine.
Print