The New York Times.
AMERICA needs a new political discourse on energy. This would recognize
the emerging reality that the United States has turned around as an
energy producer and is on a major upswing. And the impact will be
measured not just in energy security and the balance of payments. Energy
development also turns out to be an engine for job creation and
economic growth — something that would hardly have been considered the
last time we were electing a president.
In 2008, the rise in oil prices was accompanied — and partly fueled — by
a belief that an era of permanent scarcity was at hand. This mentality
had deep roots extending back to the 1970s, when the United States went
from being a minor importer of oil to a major importer. In the 2008
rendition, falling oil output was considered simply inevitable. The only
questions were at what rate petroleum imports would rise and whether
that rate would be slowed.
The outlook was much the same for natural gas. Production would
inevitably decline, and the country was on the way to spending $100
billion a year to import liquefied natural gas from West Africa, the
Middle East, even Australia and Russia. The energy burden on our trade
deficit would only increase, adding to our economic distress.
But that is not at all how things are turning out. Technology made the
difference. The natural gas market has been transformed by the rapid
expansion of shale gas production. A dozen years ago, shale gas amounted
to only about 2 percent of United States production. Today, it is 37
percent and rising. Natural gas is in such ample supply that its price
has tanked. This unanticipated abundance has ignited a new political
argument about liquefied natural gas — not about how much the United
States will import but rather how much it should export.
