Recognize natural gas is green. Why it matters: American natural gas is affordable, clean, abundant, and reliable energy that improves the environment while securing American energy independence. It is the green bridge to a future of alternative sources of affordable, clean, and reliable energy.
Secure America’s energy independence with natural gas and make the world safer. Why it matters: Affordable & reliable energy is essential to our livelihood and the well-being of everyone. Countries and their citizens are held hostage to energy supplies from countries with bad intent. The more America powers the world, the more secure the world will be for all freedom-loving people.
Encourage States to prohibit natural gas bans. Why it matters: Access to abundant and reliable natural gas is essential to affordable energy for everyday Americans and small businesses. Affordable energy is critical to returning manufacturing and good-paying jobs to America.
Build more natural gas and energy pipelines. Why it matters: Pipelines are the safest, most environmentally sound, and efficient way to transport energy. A country without pipelines is like a body without veins.
Promote natural gas as a green energy source in all appropriate applications. Why it matters: Thanks to natural gas, the United States is the world leader in clean air quality. Imagine if natural gas was used for transportation fuel, heated every home, and used to produce more electricity; our environment would be substantially improved while not wreaking havoc on our economy.
Unleash the power of liquified natural gas (LNG) to support our allies, stabilize world energy markets, and improve our Mother Earth’s air quality as it has in our nation. Why it matters: America has one of the largest supplies of natural gas in the world, enough to power our own needs and our allies for a century.
Lead the world in renewable natural gas technologies. Why it matters: We generate garbage and waste water every day, and lots of it. Cost effective capture and use of the emissions and unpleasant smells we all know well from landfills, water treatment plants, animal waste, and other sources is a real gain toward meaningful environmental activism.
Expand energy technical trades education and training programs. Why it matters: America’s energy industry is a source of good-paying jobs. To realize affordable energy independence we need to fill thousands of jobs waiting for Americans to roll up their sleeves and get to work. Education, training, and the upskilling of American workers will impact positively millions of our families, friends and communities directly and ultimately every American will benefit through a prosperous economy fueled by affordable energy.
Natural gas is a fossil fuel. Like other fossil fuels such as coal and oil, natural gas forms from the plants, animals, and microorganisms that lived millions of years ago.
There are several different theories to explain how fossil fuels are formed. The most prevalent theory is that they form underground, under intense conditions. As plants, animals, and microorganisms decompose, they are gradually covered by layers of soil, sediment, and sometimes rock. Over millions of years, the organic matter is compressed. As the organic matter moves deeper into Earth’s crust, it encounters higher and higher temperatures.
The combination of compression and high temperature causes the carbon bonds in the organic matter to break down. This molecular breakdown produces thermogenic methane—natural gas. Methane, probably the most abundant organic compound on Earth, is made of carbon and hydrogen (CH4).
Natural gas deposits are often found near oil deposits. Deposits of natural gas close to Earth’s surface are usually dwarfed by nearby oil deposits. Deeper deposits—formed at higher temperatures and under more pressure—have more natural gas than oil. The deepest deposits can be made up of pure natural gas.
Natural gas does not have to be formed deep underground, however. It can also be formed by tiny microorganisms called methanogens. Methanogens live in the intestines of animals (including humans) and in low-oxygen areas near the surface of Earth. Landfills, for example, are full of decomposing matter that methanogens break down into a type of methane called biogenic methane. The process of methanogens creating natural gas (methane) is called methanogenesis.
Although most biogenic methane escapes into the atmosphere, there are new technologies being created to contain and harvest this potential energy source.
Thermogenic methane—the natural gas formed deep beneath Earth’s surface—can also escape into the atmosphere. Some of the gas is able to rise through permeable matter, such as porous rock, and eventually dissipate into the atmosphere.
However, most thermogenic methane that rises toward the surface encounters geological formations that are too impermeable for it to escape. These rock formations are called sedimentary basins.
Sedimentary basins trap huge reservoirs of natural gas. In order to gain access to these natural gas reservoirs, a hole (sometimes called a well) must be drilled through the rock to allow the gas to escape and be harvested.
Sedimentary basins rich in natural gas are found all over the world. The deserts of Saudi Arabia, the humid tropics of Venezuela, and the freezing Arctic of the U.S. state of Alaska are all sources of natural gas. Outside Alaska, U.S. basins are primarily around the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico, including Texas and Louisiana. Recently, the northern states of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana have developed significant drilling facilities in sedimentary basins.
Types of Natural Gas
Natural gas that is economical to extract and easily accessible is considered “conventional.” Conventional gas is trapped in permeable material beneath impermeable rock.
Natural gas found in other geological settings is not always so easy or practical to extract. This gas is called “unco
