In an article in the business section of the New York Times (“Time to Tap the Bounty of U.S. Natural Gas” January 16, 2011) author Christopher Swann calls natural gas
“America’s most ignored blessing. With resources now equivalent to Iran’s oil reserves, domestic shale gas offers a chance to meaningfully reduce the country’s dependence on foreign oil, cut the deficit and even reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
Swann also reports that
“Just last month, the Energy Department more than doubled estimates of recoverable shale reserves to 827 trillion cubic feet, the energy equivalent of roughly 140 billion barrels of oil. That’s slightly greater than the proven oil reserves of Iran, the world’s third largest repository of crude.”
Adopting a major tenet of the Pickens Plan, Christopher Swann writes:
“By shifting America’s gasoline-guzzling heavy vehicle fleet and buses to natural gas the United States could cancel orders for up to three million barrels of oil a day. This could shave $100 billion off the annual trade deficit at current oil prices.”
Swann concludes with a call to action by the U.S. House and Senate: “America’s natural gas bonanza is too good an opportunity to miss. The new Congress needs to embrace the bounty beneath its feet.”
To read the entire article in the New York Times, click HERE (subscription may be required).
— The Pickens Team