America's natural gas revolution has upended energy markets, geopolitics and quality of life. Despite innovation and disruptive technology delivering this positive black swan, there is a war being waged against it.
Ongoing efforts to tax carbon, shut down pipelines, mislead the public over regulations governing natural gas development and ban new natural gas hookups all ignorantly suggest mankind is about to convert to a carbon-free society overnight.
To the contrary, here are eight irrefutable energy truths:
1) The natural gas industry is the picture of epic success. Perhaps it seems counterintuitive given current natural gas prices and looming consolidation, but this is actually what success looks like. Technology (horizontal drilling, automation and big data) has dramatically increased natural gas productivity and reduced energy costs.
The supply tsunami may exceed consumption in the short term, but demand for natural gas will grow, prices will stabilize and everyone will benefit.
The technology breakthroughs that launched America's natural gas revolution are akin to Henry Ford's disruption of the assembly line, which spawned over a hundred car manufacturers that consolidated down to a few.
2) You can't be anti-carbon while also being pro-human. Somehow, the elites (those who want to dictate how the middle class lives) have twisted the storyline into carbon being the doom of humanity. As society's carbon use grows, life expectancy increases, infant mortality rates plummet and individual rights increase.
3) There is nothing renewable about wind and solar. Like all energy, they are nonrenewable, just more so when you factor mining the materials for solar panels and turbine blades; the energy needed for their manufacturing and transportation; the inefficient nature of solar and wind power; their massive surface disturbance and footprint; and the backup generation, tax subsidies and protected markets they require.
So-called renewables are losers on both a dollars per kilowatt-hour (kWh) and a CO2 per kWh basis. Natural gas-fired generation is superior on both metrics.
4) There is no such thing as a zero-carbon future. This is true for companies, states and households. The zero-carbon myth defies science and the laws of thermodynamics. Engineers know energy cannot be created nor destroyed in the isolated system called planet Earth. That rule applies to all, including Joe Biden who wants to spend $2 trillion pursuing this zero-carbon fallacy.
5) If there was ever a doubt how vital carbon is to society, 2020 was the year all doubts were erased during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Carbon is essential in the manufacturing of surgical gloves, hand sanitizer, face masks and ventilators. Carbon is powering our hospitals and transporting essential supplies all over the world. Carbon fertilizes, harvests, transports and refrigerates our food from the field to the grocery store.
6) Carbon is the ultimate extension of geopolitical power. Abundant natural gas has helped secure allies in Japan and India and protect them from Chinese aggression, secure Europe against Russia, break OPEC's back, stop endless Middle East wars, and pull billions of the planet's poor out of poverty and improve their quality of life.
Domestic natural gas is as big of a geopolitical extension of U.S. power as our military.
7) Carbon sustains the middle class. If you care about the middle class, you support the carbon economy.
The domestic carbon economy employs workers earning truly family-sustaining wages. There is not an industry that can match the years of opportunity that the carbon and natural gas economies represent.
8) Finally, political inaction is a recipe for disaster. Energy and manufacturing are the "doers" of the economy. Without them, society stops dead in its tracks.
It's tempting to keep your head down, go to work, ignore the lies and keep toiling. But political inaction must end as the elites take more and more liberties with the truth, data, science and facts.
Whether you work for a business that uses a lot of energy, heat your home with natural gas or enjoy waking up to a fully charged cellphone, it's time to speak up. Defend affordable, reliable and clean energy that will power our communities for decades to come.
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