USEA To Hold Virtual Press Briefing on Natural Gas

The United States Energy Association will hold a virtual press briefing on natural gas, open to the press and the public, on Wednesday, Sept. 4.

WASHINGTON, DC, USA, August 26, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Cove Point LNG terminal in the Chesapeake Bay, off the Maryland town of Lusby, tells the recent history of natural gas in the United States. It was built in the early 1970s to receive Algerian gas at a time when the U.S. was believed to be running out of it.

Today, it is one of eight exporting terminals – and more than 20 are planned — sending U.S. gas to the world.

That reversal of fortune is emblematic of what has happened to gas in the U.S. Fracking technology turned the U.S. from a gas-short nation into the world’s largest producer.

Apart from cooking, heating and industrial processes, gas is the primary fuel for U.S. electricity generation. It has overtaken coal, and accounts for about 40 percent of electricity generation.

Utilities love gas for a string of reasons including ease of installation, low emissions and ease of moving it by pipeline. Above all, they love it because in the age of renewables, wind and solar, it is dispatchable — simply, that means it is available on demand.

But gas has its problems and hurdles.

First off, it is a fossil fuel and although it is more efficient than coal and its emissions are about half of those of coal, the environmental community doesn’t love it. Some groups want gas banned and oppose exporting it.

Additionally, and even more problematic, is local environmental opposition and state laws which mandate that their utilities must convert to 100 percent renewables by specific dates.

New England has been forced to import LNG because New York wouldn’t permit the building of pipelines to carry gas from the Marcellus field in Pennsylvania to where it is critically needed across the Northeast.

This kind of local “Not In My Backyard” (NIMBY) opposition is a serious impediment. View this against an escalating demand for electricity and the scene for struggle is set.

The United States Energy Association’s next virtual press briefing will examine the pluses and minuses of gas going forward. It is set for Wednesday, Sept. 4, at 11 a.m. EDT. The briefing is free of charge, and open to the press and the public.

The briefings, which are held monthly and broadcast live on Zoom, are organized and hosted by writer and broadcaster Llewellyn King. USEA President and CEO, Mark Menezes, a former Deputy Secretary of Energy, is always on hand to welcome everyone and to lend his expertise.

Their format is a panel of senior journalists questioning a panel of experts in the field.

For the Sept. 4 briefing, the experts are:

Benjamin Lakatos, CEO, Founder and Majority Owner of MET Group, Zug, Switzerland
Dena Wiggins, President and CEO, Natural Gas Supply Association
David Greely, Chief Economist and Head of Research, Abaxx Exchange
Richard Mroz, Consultant and former President of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities
C. Jeffrey Eshelman, President and CEO, Independent Petroleum Association of America
Representatives from the Energy Information Administration and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission are pending.

The journalists are:

Matt Chester, Energy Central
Ken Silverstein, Forbes
Peter Behr, E&E News
Jennifer Hiller, The Wall Street Journal
Adam Clayton Powell III, PBS

“If things continue on their present trajectory, we could see a battle royal over gas, fought locally between those who want its use curtailed because, though cleaner by far than coal, it is a fossil fuel with carbon dioxide emissions,” King said.

Instead of a federal-level pitched battle, he added, there might be lots of local skirmishes and court cases — all of which will make burning gas harder, but probably will fail to deter its use.

“Having talked to many utilities and their trade associations, there is no doubt they need gas if they are going to come anywhere near meeting increased electricity demand, driven by data centers, electric vehicles and general electrification,” King said. 

Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_e1rb3SnmSy-1q99AEc8u0g#/registration

Llewellyn King
White House Media LLC
+1 202-441-2702
llewellynking1@gmail.com
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