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Page added on January 31, 2013
Export Liquefied Natural Gas? For Whose Benefit?
Recently I received an email from Energy Citizens with an invitation to, “Join us for a telephone town hall to discuss natural gas exports on Friday, February 1st at 1:00pm. Learn more about why the world needs American natural gas and how that creates more jobs and energy security here at home.” Energy Citizens is a “front organization” for the American Petroleum Institute (API), a lobbying group for the fossil fuel industry. There is considerable discussion on the export of natural gas in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG) due to its abundance created from horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (i.e., “fracking”)
Exporting natural gas (i.e., via LNG) would lead to domestic price increases, rippling throughout the U.S. economy and affecting the following:
- Electric power generation
- Residential heating,
- Space and water heating,
- Cooking
- Drying
- Commercial cooling
- Food service industry
- Combined heat and power
- Building block for methanol and its derivatives
- Natural gas vehicles
Price increases would enrich a relative few. However, the rest of us would “pay the price.”
It is not in the best interest of the United States to export natural gas because it is a non renewable energy resource. I am not aware of any other replacement energy resource that would be affordable, available and on a commercial scale to sustain the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the United States regarding the bulleted areas listed above.
The graph below illustrates the history of oil production in the lower 48 states with increasing production, reaching peak production and subsequent declining. This graph also shows increasing oil imports to off set declining domestic production. Why should the fate of natural gas be any different? Exporting natural gas would cause the production curve to reach a plateau sooner. What will the collective “we” do after the supply of natural gas has dwindled to insufficient levels?
6 Comments on "Export Liquefied Natural Gas? For Whose Benefit?"
Plantagenet on Thu, 31st Jan 2013 3:40 am
President Obama said our natural gas supply will “last 100 years”—- that means there is plenty of NG both for domestic use and export for decades to come.
DC on Thu, 31st Jan 2013 3:44 am
“Energy Citizens” RoFL -nothing citizen about them at all. A well-known corporate astro-turf group. No wonder they are canvassing people via email to attend there uhhhh…events. The only people that go(now) are either paid shirts, or family members of O+G employees.
BillT on Thu, 31st Jan 2013 4:15 am
Ah yes, keep exporting America’s future like they did all of the ‘inexhaustible’ oil in Texas for $2 a barrel for decades. Now they actually believe that there is enough NG to build plants/ports to ship it overseas for a profit. Nope. Gonna burst that bubble soon and down will come all of the petrodreams.
rollin on Thu, 31st Jan 2013 4:24 am
What the world needs in not natural gas, but elimination of all fossil fuel burning. What the companies need is to try and make a profit from an unprofitable venture.
I think spending billions building LNG port facilities for a few years of gas output is another precarious venture.
The new guess will be when will this Ponzi scheme fall apart at the seams.
I say slap a huge export tax on them and use it to super insulate houses.
Kenz300 on Thu, 31st Jan 2013 6:01 am
Quote — ” Energy Citizens is a “front organization” for the American Petroleum Institute (API), a lobbying group for the fossil fuel industry”
———————
The oil, gas and coal industries are flooding the air ways with commercials touting their benefits. While their Republicon “friends” in Congress are doing all they can to block any alternatives.
The gas boom is just that a BOOM that will go bust.
It is time to speed up the transition to safe, clean alternative energy sources and away from fossil fuels.
GregT on Thu, 31st Jan 2013 4:11 pm
Planetagenet,
Obama has said many things. That doesn’t mean that all of them have to be the truth.