The United States has an abundance of natural gas. Natural gas is the ideal bridge fuel to the next generation of transportation power fuels. The technologies currently in development, such as battery operated vehicles and hydrogen fuel cells, may not be ready for years to come and, while they, along with wind and solar power, are America’s ultimate goal, they are not an immediate solution to reduce our reliance on foreign oil. Natural gas is ready to go today!
The industry has developed drilling technologies that are able to secure 2,000 trillion cubic feet of available and technically recoverable natural gas, according to a study conducted by the Potential Gas Committee of the Colorado School of Mines. That supply translates into over a century worth of natural gas in deposits such as shale located throughout Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Appalachia. Energy expert T. Boone Pickens has estimated the natural gas reserves in the U.S. are more than double those coveted oil reserves in Saudi Arabia.
Dr. Joseph Romm, former Acting Assistant Secretary of Energy for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy during the Clinton Administration has said: "That's why it [natural gas] is widely seen, even by groups as green as Greenpeace, as a plausible transition fuel for the next two to three decades as we aggressively ramp up wind, solar PV, concentrated solar thermal, biomass, geothermal, and other ultra-low-carbon energy sources."
Aside from cutting emissions and lowering fuel prices, the use of natural gas would also have a major impact on our national security and economic stature. Rather than sending billions of dollars overseas every month to foreign oil suppliers, why not take advantage of the resources that we possess and stimulate our own economy with that money?
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