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| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
Contact: Mary Ellen Grant (CLNG)
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Wilkes-Barre, PA Times Leader Publishes CLNG Letter to the Editor Supporting LNG Exports
WASHINGTON, D.C. (November 4, 2011) -- The Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre, PA) has published a letter submitted by The Center for Liquefied Natural Gas in response to an Oct. 16 column, "Gas exports show need for energy policy." The CLNG letter contends that the discovery of shale gas presents a valuable economic opportunity, including additional tax revenues, thousands of new jobs, and improving the national trade imbalance.
The Times Leader published the CLNG letter in its Oct. 27 edition, which is found in its entirety below, and on the Times Leader online.
The benefits of adding thousands of badly needed jobs are grossly understated in a recent column about proposals to export a very small fraction of our nation's growing natural gas production ("Gas exports show need for energy policy," Oct. 16).
The writer's calculations of how those exports could potentially affect domestic gas supply are so exaggerated that they mislead the public.
The truth is that Dominion's proposal to allow exports from its liquefied natural gas facility in Cove Point, Md., would account for less than 1 percent of the 410.3 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable natural gas in the Marcellus Shale region. Now consider that this is only part of a total of 750 trillion cubic feet of natural gas recoverable from other shale regions throughout the United States.
The shale gas discoveries in this country – which seem to be multiplying every day – should be seen as a diamond in the rough for our faltering economy, bringing us back to the kind of export-based economy that helped build our country. Instead, the writer proposes more government regulation that would stymie the economic benefits natural gas exports can provide.
The U.S. Department of Energy's regulations for managing the flow of natural gas in and out of the country are adequately designed to address domestic needs without harming the economy. The outlook for natural gas exports shows the potential for an enormous economic stimulus to include increased tax revenues, a reduction of the U.S. trade imbalance and the addition of thousands of new jobs.
Bill Cooper
President
Center for Liquefied Natural Gas
Washington, D.C.
CLNG is a trade association of LNG producers, shippers, terminal operators and developers, and energy trade associations. Its goal is to enhance public education and understanding about LNG by serving as a clearinghouse for LNG information. For more information, visit www.lngfacts.org.