Drilling Boom Revives Hopes for Natural Gas. By Clifford Krauss, NYTimes, August 24, 2008. "American natural gas production is rising at a clip not seen in half a century, pushing down prices of the fuel and reversing conventional wisdom that domestic gas fields were in irreversible decline. The new drilling boom uses advanced technology to release gas trapped in huge shale [gas] beds found throughout North America -- long believed to be out of reach. Natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel, releasing less [global warming gases] than coal or oil... A sustained increase in gas supplies over the next decade could slow the rise of utility bills, obviate the need to import gas and make energy-intensive industries more competitive. While the recent production increase is indisputable, not everyone is convinced the additional supplies can last for decades... Still, many... believe a new era is at hand... [including] senior Democrats in Congress [who] are getting behind natural gas, portraying it as an alternative fuel for transportation that can serve as a stopgap until renewable sources of energy... become economical on a broad scale... 'We see natural gas as potentially a very important transitional fuel, but we can't use it at the expense of our natural resources,' said Kate Sinding [of] the Natural Resources Defense Council, who warned that water-intensive drilling in shale could threaten local water supplies and aquifers."
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