High natural gas prices are hurting the U.S. economy

Each day, the United States loses more good-paying manufacturing jobs to overseas operations as a result of the natural gas crisis confronting the nation, and consumers are paying record-high levels for heating and cooling purposes.

Here in West Virginia, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that we lost 13,900 manufacturing jobs from 1999 to 2004. Today, there remain 63,000 jobs in the manufacturing sector, and 11,000 of those jobs are in the chemical industry. This represents a 25.2 percent loss since 1999.