By Wayne Wilson Special to The Houston Chronicle The
complications and limitations of a national energy policy were
aptly illustrated with the recently released Advancing
Technology for America’s Transportation Future report from the
National Petroleum Council, representing two years of work by
300 industry and government participants. Its purpose was to
provide policy guidance on fuels and technology through 2030 in
the sector that consumes 70 percent of our oil – transportation.
But it leaves us no closer to an answer to America’s energy
riddle. I would contend the answer is clear to anyone who reads
the Houston Chronicle: natural gas. U.S. energy consumers have
heard for years about the megabillion cubic feet of natural gas
in shale deposits from Pennsylvania to Texas to Montana – enough
for up to 80 years of U.S. needs. So why have increased supplies
and lower natural gas prices not had a wider effect on other
energy prices such as electricity and transportation fuels?
Clearly, the natural gas industry ha