Natural Gas: Think Big on Infrastructure

As blizzard conditions bear down on the Northeast, Marty Durbin, President and CEO of America’s Natural Gas Alliance, offers a look at the shale gas revolution that is transforming the US economy, enabling record emissions reductions and fueling our nation’s emergence as the world’s leading producer of natural gas.

The American natural gas industry has shown remarkable resilience since last year’s extreme winter—the coldest in 20 years. After historic drawdowns, natural gas storage levels have been fully restored and production in the Marcellus Shale has risen 32% in a single year.  This means natural gas is ready and available to rise to the occasion of extreme weather. 

Long term, how can the nation make the most of this new age of natural gas abundance?  Expanding essential infrastructure. Many parts of the country are experiencing a manufacturing resurgence powered by affordable, abundant natural gas. But there are missed opportunities in the Northeast due to regional infrastructure constraints. Active leadership to break the logjam will enhance New England’s access to natural gas in wintertime and help move these vast supplies nationwide to expand clean power generation, manufacturing and economic growth.

Timely approval of LNG export facilities will allow our nation to share this clean energy with the world, providing global economic and environmental benefits. And, by spurring increased natural gas liquids production, LNG exports create even more opportunities for US manufacturing.

Yes, it’s cold outside.  But the opportunities made possible by American natural gas are just heating up. The markets are screaming for demand outlets. It’s time to think big as a nation about how to maximize our shale gas opportunity. 

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Natural Gas: Think Big on Infrastructure
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Energy-Voices/2015/0128/Natural-Gas-Think-Big-on-Infrastructure
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe