US seeks independence with natural gas

…The company drilling here is Range Resources, and according to its vice-president, Stephen Rupert, natural gas could help break this country’s dependence on foreign oil.

“Natural gas is our cleanest fossil fuel. It can be used in cars, to generate electricity. It can be liquefied and used as jet aviation fuel,” he says.

Then comes the killer comment, as far as US politics is concerned right now: “The natural gas that’s being used in this country at this time can really get us to energy independence.”

“Energy independence” has almost become the Holy Grail in the US.

Here, the environmental debate often does not concern saving the planet, or reducing the effects of human action on the global climate.

Instead it is couched in terms of how the US can get its energy from sources other than Middle Eastern countries, from whom it currently buys the majority of its oil.

BBC