Martin J. Durbin clearly was enthusiastic as he began to address the American Gas Association's May 30 Natural Gas Roundtable luncheon, starting with what US President Barack Obama had said a day earlier in Chicago.
"We know that energy is what makes an economy go," the president said at a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee event in Chicago on May 29. "And the great news, here in America, is that by 2020 we'll be a net exporter of natural gas.
"We will over the next couple of decades have the capacity to be energy independent for the first time, [an] incredible change," he continued. "It will change geopolitics for generations to come, and it frees ourselves from dependence not only on foreign oil generally, but from some of the most volatile parts of the world."
Obama also mentioned the need to address climate change and fund science and technology research and development more aggressively. But Durbin, who had become the new president of America's Natural Gas Alliance on May 1, said Obama's enthusiasm for gas exports was what mattered most.
"It's an overworked phrase, but I think it might be a game-changer," he said. "President Obama basically said it's great news that the US will be able to export gas."
Durbin called exports-vs.-low prices a false choice. "Not all the terminals that have been proposed will be built," he said. "This is more an opportunity to make sure the US has a part of the global [LNG] market."
The nation needs fuel diversity, and gas is in an excellent position to help provide it, he maintained. "The more we find out about how much of this resource we have, the better it looks," Durbin said. "If natural gas is a bridge [to alternative and renewable fuels], it's a heck of a long bridge."
Rust Belt rebirth
More unconventional gas production is occurring in places outside traditionally resource-rich areas in the US, Durbin continued. "It's becoming a rebirth of the Rust Belt," he said. "We're seeing states which have lost manufacturing capacity over the decades start to get some if it back because there's so much affordable gas."
He acknowledged that communities that haven't dealt with oil and gas production before are raising legitimate questions about its impacts. It will be necessary to differentiate them and some environmental groups from others that increasingly use what Durbin called "street theater" to oppose any kind of oil and gas activity.
The US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee's three natural gas forums, by contrast, were constructive, he said. "We're moving into a position where there may not be as many obstacles," Durbin suggested.
