It’s Not ‘Star Wars’

Energy’s Future: Robert Hefner says natural gas offers a bridge to a squeaky-clean ‘hydrogen economy.’

Before Robert A. Hefner came along, many people assumed natural gas was limited in its quantity and uses. But since its founding in 1959, Hefner’s company GHK alone has discovered more than 3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas around the world. The company also pioneered the technology now used by all major companies in the United States to reach deep, high-pressure wells.
Hefner recently spoke with NEWSWEEK’s Fareed Zakaria about why he thinks natural gas needs to be central to any strategy to transition beyond fossil fuels. Excerpts:

ZAKARIA: Natural gas is plentiful and clean, but when you add up the costs of exploration, storage and delivery, it’s also expensive.
HEFNER: When the pollution costs of coal are included, like health costs and acid rain, the cost of natural-gas-generated electricity is actually less than coal. For transport, it costs less than gasoline. Over 5 million vehicles around the world run on natural gas.

How would you factor external costs into the price of coal? Do you want a tax on “bad energy” and a subsidy for the good stuff?
Coal and oil have become by far America’s largest energy problems. Together, they produce about 80 percent of our CO2 emissions, and our addiction to foreign oil creates very large problems and risks. So I believe we should phase in taxes on coal and oil and oil products