What’s
Wrong Today:
From today’s
NYT:
pressure builds on the Obama administration to quicken gas exports to Europe to
reduce its dependence on Russia, it may be tempting to gaze upon a marshy,
alligator-infested Louisiana inlet of the Gulf of Mexico
Where 3,000
workers are building a terminal that will send American natural gas around the
world by the end of next year. By 2017, the facility built by Houston-based Cheniere Energy could handle
roughly a sixth the amount of gas that flows from Russia to Europe every day. But,
50% of this gas is promised to India and South Korea. Not a problem, according
to Condoleezza
Rice in yesterday’s WaPo:
America’s bounty of oil and gas will swamp Moscow’s capacity. Authorizing the Keystone XL pipeline and championing natural gas exports would signal that we intend to do precisely that
Remember what John
Boehner said in March to the WSJ:
Russian leader in check lies right beneath our feet, in the form of vast
supplies of natural energy
If only
our Republican friends were correct. Here is a Q & A from Gail
Tverberg:
gas is the United States currently extracting?
(a) Barely enough
to meet its own needs
(b) Enough to allow lots of exports
(c) Enough to allow a bit of exports
(d) The United States is a natural gas importer
Answer: (d) The
United States is a natural gas importer, and has been for many years
The US Energy
Information Association (EIA) forecasts that by 2017, we will be able to meet America’s
domestic natural gas needs. Below is their chart:
Source:
Our Finite World, based on EIA’s
Annual Energy Outlook 2014
“EIA Fut”
means the future forecast of production and construction of production
facilities. OK, so maybe we could
export a little to help our European allies.
Then, Tverberg
asks the $2 question: (emphasis by the Wrongologist)
is the US talking about exporting?
(a) A tiny amount,
less than 5% of what it is currently producing.
(b) About 20% of what it is currently producing.
(c) About 40% of what it is currently producing.
(d) Over 60% of what it is currently producing.
The correct answer
is (d) Over 60% what it is currently
producing
Tverberg
continues:
applications for natural gas exports found on the Energy.Gov website,
we find that applications
for exports total 42 billion cubic feet a day, most of which has already
been approved. This compares to US 2013 natural gas production of 67 billion
cubic feet a day
So we have
to come to the conclusion that if Republicans and the energy industry have
their way, we could be left with less
than half of current natural gas production for our own needs. And by
2040, natural gas consumption is expected to be 23% higher than in 2013. This,
according to Republicans, would help Europe to work more effectively with us to
blunt Russia’s possible continued aggression in Ukraine.
Here
we go again, listening to Republicans sing the same old tune. US natural gas
companies have been searching for a
rationale for more LNG terminals and found one in the Ukraine crisis.
The
rationale is ideal for the gas companies because politicians can help out by wrapping
themselves in the flag of national security. If these politicians are
successful, there will be more profits for the gas companies and US gas
consumers will face higher prices and more hydraulic fracturing.
This
means Republicans are fine with poisoning our groundwater in order to sell
fracked gas to Europe. Here are some additional questions for your
consideration:
- What
exactly is in this for non-shareholders (citizens)?
- And
how is any of this good for the American consumer of energy?
- Why
must we place the Gulf of Mexico at greater environmental risk to enable Europe
to avoid Russia?
- Why
are our natural water aquifers being given away to energy companies to use up
at will?
The
Republicans continue to placate big business and big finance by enabling them
to export our jobs, machines, know-how, and funding. Essentially, the
Republicans exported our economy, and now ask Democrats; where are the jobs? With
the export of gas we don’t really have, Republicans now want to help big
business export the fuel of our economy, one of our strategic natural
resources.
If
they continue to decimate our economy (and our nation) in so many ways like
pirates stashing their take elsewhere, we should call them traitors.
The US has been an aggressor
in the Middle East for more than 60 years, beginning with deposing a
democratically elected government in Iran, in order to control our sources of energy.
Now that we have something approaching energy self-sufficiency, the Republican plan
is to EXPORT it?
Funny too about gas. The only reason gas is so cheap is that it cannot cheaply be sent overseas. Once we move a lot of gas via ship (liquified etc) we lose CHEAP GAS. The energy companies want this.. for obvious reasons.