4 AUGUST 2026 E-News Flash by WorldWide Drilling Resource by WorldWide Drilling Resource® decal is a simple, visible way for equipment manufacturers to remind operators to contact 811 before digging or working near underground infrastructure. We are proud to work with CGA to help share this important safety message across the industry.” Using industry best practices places equipment operators as the last line of defense against underground utility strikes. In 2025 alone, an estimated 213,985 damages to underground infrastructure were reported across the United States. This initiative directly supports CGA's goal to reduce damages to underground infrastructure while keeping workers and communities both safe and connected to critical utilities. “Preventing damage to underground infrastructure is a shared responsibility, and this best practice will remind equipment operators closest to the dig to contact 811 before starting their work,” said Sarah K. Magruder Lyle, President and CEO of the Common Ground Alliance. “When nonroad equipment manufacturers stand with us, we reach operators before a shovel ever hits the ground. That's how we reduce our top driver of damages every year, which is failure to contact 811 before digging.” The recommendation covers both new and existing equipment. For new machines, participating manufacturers will apply the decal during production. For equipment already in the field, equipment owners can request a no-cost license from CGA to reproduce the official 811 decal and retrofit their fleets. Megan Tanel and Sarah K. Magruder Lyle AEM & CGA Cont’d from page 2. Geothermal History in the Making Adapted from Information by the U.S. Department of Energy Back in 2014, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Geothermal released a funding opportunity to establish a dedicated field test site for enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) called the Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE). The site would be used to identify, test, and evaluate technologies and methods for EGS. After a rigorous three-phase process, the Office of Geothermal selected a site in Milford, Utah, led by the University of Utah. The FORGE site came to fruition in 2019, and since then, it has become a leader in EGS research. In 2021, FORGE drilled the first-ever highly deviated geothermal well (65-degree inclination), in about half the time planned. A second deviated well was drilled by 2023 and an EGS reservoir was created. The site also pioneered the use of fiber-optic cables in EGS; this provided high-quality monitoring and communication between wells during hydraulic fracturing. Overall, the site has supported $90 million in research and technology testing including identifying ways to dramatically increase drilling speeds, with techniques used successfully in other DOE-funded projects. Since its inception, FORGE has shared its technical data on DOE’s Geothermal Data Repository giving researchers around the world a wealth of information. This information has benefitted other researchers, academia, investors, insurers, and of course, geothermal companies. One of the companies that took advantage of this information is Fervo Energy, a leading geothermal developer moving the needle on EGS. Like FORGE, Fervo has made significant strides in harnessing gas and oil technologies for geothermal development, including drilling the first-ever horizontal EGS wells, using distributed fiber-optic cable for seismic monitoring, and using PDC drill bits to reduce drilling times. Fervo has benefitted from FORGE’s research and abundant data. The Office of Geothermal selected the company’s Cape Station project as part of the EGS Pilot Demonstrations initiative. The project, which is expected to produce 500 megawatts of power by 2028, is adjacent to Utah FORGE. In a 2023 statement, Fervo CEO and Cofounder Tim Latimer mentioned the importance of FORGE research in selecting the site saying, “Thanks to cutting-edge research and data collection from FORGE, Fervo can accelerate the production of [Beaver County, Utah]’s geothermal resources.” Fervo is also following FORGE’s lead in making geothermal data publicly available, hoping it will help attract developers and investors to realize the full potential of EGS. Photo of Utah FORGE drilling rig by Eric Larson (Utah FORGE).
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