Washington, D.C. – In response to President Obama’s State of the Union address, members of the Natural Gas Council, representing the thousands of companies that produce, transport and deliver clean, affordable natural gas throughout the United States, issued the following statement:
“We welcome President Obama’s recognition of the many benefits domestic natural gas brings to our nation. Our industry directly supports hundreds of thousands of jobs and indirectly supports millions more in the manufacturing and service industries, generating billions of dollars per year for communities, states and the federal government.
“Thanks to abundant supplies of shale gas, our nation now has a ready source of clean energy that can boost our energy security, advance our economy, benefit consumers’ pocketbooks and help clean our air. American consumers and businesses have benefited from a remarkable growth in natural gas supply, leading to lower energy bills and a U.S. manufacturing renaissance. IHS Global Insight has projected that the average U.S. household will enjoy an increase in annual disposable income of $926 over each of the next three years. Government tax and regulatory policies should promote development of America’s abundant oil and natural gas supplies to take full advantage of these benefits.
“The natural gas industry develops and delivers American resources using safe and environmentally responsible operations and is committed to helping assure that the public understands the nature and complexity of these proven, longstanding environmental practices. Our community supports disclosure of the chemicals used in the development of this American resource on public and private lands through the FracFocus.org registry and we have supported state regulation as states have adopted this model and embraced disclosure. After only a few months, FracFocus already has 115 participating companies and information on more than 10,000 wells, with more coming soon.
“We were pleased to hear the president say our nation does not have to choose between economic growth and environmental stewardship and we wholly agree. We look forward to working in a bipartisan way to promote the many benefits that increased use of natural gas can bring to our country.”
