Abundance

Natural gas is one of America’s greatest resources. While reserves of other resources are diminishing, new drilling technologies and techniques are allowing us to recover natural gas in the huge shale deposits found all across America. A recent Rice University study projects that U.S. shale gas production will more than quadruple by 2040 from 2010 levels of more than 10 billion cubic feet per day, reaching more than 50 percent of total U.S. natural gas production by the 2030s. The study incorporates independent scientific and economic literature on shale costs and resources, including assessments by organizations such as the U.S. Geological Survey, the Potential Gas Committee, and scholarly peer-reviewed papers of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

As President Obama has pointed out, the energy available from natural gas contained in these shale deposits can provide ample supplies for the next 100 years.

Environment

Natural gas is much cleaner than coal, diesel, or gasoline. In fact, natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel and a highly efficient form of energy. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said that natural gas is twice as clean as coal.

Natural gas has less carbon and fewer impurities than other fuels, so it produces less sulfur dioxide (a primary cause of acid rain) and other pollutants. Natural gas also produces 25 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than diesel or gasoline.

Natural gas reduces carbon monoxide (CO) emissions by 90 percent and nitrogen oxides (NOx) aby more than 60 percent. When used in medium- and heavy-duty engines, CO and particulate matter (PM) reductions of over 90 percent, and NOx reductions of over 50 percent, have been demonstrated compared to diesel engines.

Dr. Joseph Romm, former Acting Assistant Secretary of Energy for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy during the Clinton Administration has said: “That’s why [natural gas] is widely seen, even by groups as green as Greenpeace, as a plausible transition fuel for the next two to three decades as we aggressively ramp up wind, solar PV, concentrated solar thermal, biomass, geothermal, and other ultra-low-carbon energy sources.” Center for American Progress Action Fund Website

There is so much natural gas that there is enough available, according to one researcher, to “displace half of the coal burning power plants [in the United States] by 2020” which would make the environmental targets being discussed in Washington and Brussels well within reach.

Infrastructure

Natural gas already has a tremendous advantage, particularly when used for trucks and fleet vehicles. Most trucking today is round trip, one-tank routes. There are approximately 1.5 million miles of gas pipe- and distribution lines crisscrossing the country, making natural gas available on nearly every street and community in America today. Building the infrastructure also creates the kinds of jobs we need in the U.S.