An essay by economic columnist Steven Pearlstein in the Washington Post is headlined “Natural Gas could help Cut Emissions.” Pearlstein’s plan is to “decommission two-thirds of the electric-generating capacity fueled by cheap and plentiful coal and replace it with power generated by cheap and plentiful natural gas.”
He points out that natural gas “emits half as much carbon for each megawatt of electricity” and is a viable choice because of an abundance of “gas-fired power plants which are used only 25 percent of the time” and “improved drilling techniques” which have made so much natural gas available “that a few gas companies have begun to offer long-term contracts to utilities at a price that comes close t making it competitive [with coal] for base-load generation.”
Pearlstein cites Robert Kennedy, Jr and former U.S. Senator Tim Wirth, both of whom have appeared with T. Boone Pickens in promoting natural gas as a significant source of relatively low-emission fuel.
To read the entire essay in the Washington Post, click HERE.
— The Pickens Team