Amid Crises, Natural Gas Has Oil's Back
Gas prices are fast on the rise, and President Obama is talking about tapping the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve following a lineage of leaders before him who see the word ‘strategic’ as political opportunity rather than a national security imperative.
The stone cold reality, however, is that the entire strategic reserve holds only a 40 day supply for an oil thirsty U.S. economy. Draining the reserve is therefore going to do little to put a dent in the cost of gas in the near term and nothing at the pump in the intermediate or long term.
A second reality is that supplies of oil are going to remain the domain of unstable countries and regions for the foreseeable future.
Rather than raid the rainy day reserve for a temporary nickel tick downward in the price of gas at the pump, U.S. policy makers would do well to go back and revisit their own rhetoric about the need for natural gas vehicles in this country.
North America has enough natural gas to meet its needs for the next hundred years, and even wholesale fleet conversions and assembly line changeovers across the continent would not make a significant dent in that number.
Natural gas has other advantages as well. With production in the U.S., the nation will see job opportunities at a time when gas producing parts of the U.S. can really use them. The extraction royalties also mean additional revenue for cash strapped states. And natural gas burns so clean that it is part of the solution for places like Southern California where air quality can linger in the unhealthy range for weeks at a time.
In a November 4, 2010 NY Times Greenwire piece, the President is quoted as saying, "We've got, I think, broad agreement that we've got terrific natural gas resources in this country. Are we doing everything we can to develop those?" NY Times Greenwire
The answer to that rhetorical question is of course, ‘no.’
It’s not that we need new technology. Honda produces a Civic GX (in Indiana) that runs today entirely on compressed natural gas (CNG).
And retrofitters exist throughout the U.S. who can convert your existing truck into a clean, CNG machine.
What is still missing from the equation is a critical mass of refueling infrastructure, particularly in the inter-mountain western U.S.
A quick visit CNG Stations to demonstrates just how close the U.S. is to the critical mass that would open the door to mainstream public appeal.
Put a station in Needles, CA, Flagstaff, AZ and Amarillo, TX and you’ve just opened up the entire I-40 corridor, while also facilitating more North/South traffic.
A more detailed analysis of the infrastructure reveals that the critical mass of natural gas infrastructure is about 90 percent of the way there, with just a few score worth of true gaps in the U.S. CNG infrastructure.
With fuel prices on the rise, some of these gaps may well fill themselves. But to truly enable the transition to CNG, somebody’s going to have to step up and ensure places like North Platte, NE don’t leave the U.S. highway grid with 400 mile gaps between stations.
If it’s not Obama, perhaps it’s a private sector leader like T. Boone Pickens, who touts the "Pickens Plan" for energy independence that includes CNG for cars and LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) for 18-wheelers.
In any event, the action needs to reflect the rhetoric. And the kicker that will get average Americans behind it is the savings at the pump. Right now, a gallon equivalent in Oklahoma City is going for a whopping .76 cents. And even in L.A., prices hover in the $1.95 to $2.60 range.
When it comes to fueling our transportation future, build it and they will come.