U.S. energy independence based on natural gas unlikely

May 11, 2013

Zanesville TImes Recorder

Natural gas industry officials advance the tantalizing prospect of U.S. energy independence. Our country recently has been dubbed the Saudi Arabia of natural gas. They talk of a 100-year reserve of cheap natural gas stored deep in the Utica and Marcellus shale deposits underlying West Virginia and parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, Kentucky, Tennessee and Maryland. Access to this treasure trove is provided by the new techniques of fracking and horizontal drilling. Pumping millions of gallons of water and a chemical solution into the earth at high pressure fractures the shale deposits and releases the trapped oil and gas.

This drilling temporarily has produced an abundance of cheap natural gas. Power plants have responded by switching many of their generating plants from coal to less-polluting natural gas. This has resulted in a drop in climate-altering greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Read More.