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For Immediate Release
February 24, 2010

(Washington, D.C.)  -- A broad group of organizations representing natural gas producers and pipelines today called on members of Congress and the Administration to include a place for natural gas in any "clean energy standard" proposal.   The energy organizations jointly said that natural gas is essential to meeting the nation's greenhouse gas reduction goals and that, if a clean energy standard were to be adopted, it should be crafted so that utilities have the option to use natural gas in order to reduce their emissions from power generation.  

 "Leaving natural gas out of any clean energy standard is like sending the U.S. hockey team to the Olympics without their skates, fine for getting cold feet, but not making goals.  Natural gas is that critical tool that policy makers need in order to achieve clean energy goals," said R. Skip Horvath, president and CEO of the Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA).

Donald F. Santa, Jr., president of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA), said "It's time for policymakers to recognize the new domestic supply reality for natural gas.  To get an idea of just how significantly natural gas could contribute to meeting clean energy goals in the near term, the Congressional Research Service calculated that carbon emissions could be reduced by 20 percent simply by making full use of existing natural gas plants that are currently under-used."  According to the January 2010 CRS study, one-third of natural gas combined cycle plants were idle more than 70 percent of the time.

"Expanded use of natural gas plants to make electricity would not only cut emissions, but also would create thousands of new jobs in the businesses that produce and supply the nation's natural gas," said Barry Russell, president and CEO of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA).  Maximizing the use of natural gas power plants would necessitate more natural gas to be produced.  In Pennsylvania and New York, tens of thousands of new jobs have been created in the last two years since production of natural gas from shale has flourished.

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 INGAA is a trade organization that represents the interstate natural gas transmission pipeline companies operating in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Its members transport over 95 percent of the nation's natural gas through a network of 220,000 miles of pipelines.  For more information, please visit www.ingaa.org.

 Founded in 1929, the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) represents more than 5,000 companies that drill 90 percent of the nation's natural gas and crude oil wells.  These companies account for 68 percent of domestic crude oil production and 82 percent of U.S. natural gas production.

 NGSA represents integrated and independent companies that supply natural gas. Established in 1965, NGSA encourages the use of natural gas within a balanced national energy policy, and promotes the benefits of competitive markets to ensure reliable and efficient transportation and delivery of natural gas and to increase the supply of natural gas to U.S. customers.  For more information, please visit www.ngsa.org, www.naturalgas.org and www.bluejobs.org