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For millions of Americans, "natural" gas—as the fossil fuel industry calls it—heats their homes and cooks their food. For just about all American households, this same gas helps turn on the lights. Right now, this source of fuel accounts for 38.4 percent of all electrical generation in the United States—the single largest source.
Yet natural gas is not just used for fuel. In addition to being burned for heat or electricity, gas is also a major raw material for all sorts of manufacturers. Synthetic rubber, plastics, and industrial fertilizers are all made from natural gas. Gas makes up a large portion of the raw manmade materials that other manufacturers then turn into finished products nearly all of us use, whether an office chair or the interior of our cars. If you use anything synthetic, nearly anything that's not made of leather, wood, glass, or other natural materials, chances are it took natural gas to make it.
That's why it's critical that we stop permitting gas exporters to liquefy American natural gas and sell it overseas. Taking natural gas out of the domestic market causes a ripple effect across our entire economy, raising prices for energy, heat, and everyday consumer goods, better known as inflation. What's more, the process of liquefying the gas releases massive amounts of methane, one of the most potent greenhouse gasses.
Once gas is shipped overseas, its price is set by the global market, where foreign buyers are willing to pay higher prices than here in the United States. That makes it more expensive for power plants to purchase gas as a fuel, which makes your electricity bill go up. But so does the electricity bill for your grocery store, which makes your favorite ice cream more expensive to keep chilled. Who pays that higher price? You do. Need a new car? That's going to cost even more than before. The factory that assembles your future vehicle is paying even more on its own energy needs, not to mention the increased prices for the plastic and synthetic fabrics needed to build that car.
Some say we should increase LNG exports to "save Europe" from Russia's manipulation of European Union gas markets. But much of America's LNG is slated for Asia, not Europe. Besides, even if we started now, it will take years to get new export projects up and running. In the meantime, Europe is saving itself, by finding alternatives to both Russian gas and LNG, while trimming gas consumption by one quarter this year alone.
The environmental problems caused by this reliance on natural gas for synthetic goods and materials are serious, and we need to break this addiction to fossil fuels and petrochemicals. We'll need to synthesize new materials from renewable sources rather than making the same sort of toxic plastics from a generation ago. Yet making this transition will require reliable, renewable sources in place of gas. All of this will take time to scale to a point where we can replace gas altogether across our economy.
While we transition away from fossil fuels, the U.S. still depends on its own natural gas as a fuel source and raw material. That's why it's particularly stupid that we have been allowing exporters to take gas out of our domestic supply, liquefy it, and sell it overseas to the highest bidder. It's been proven time and again that exporting gas out of the U.S. raises gas prices here at home. Now it's time to call it like it is and acknowledge the truth that gas exporters are driving inflation across the board. No one in the entire U.S. economy benefits from gas exports except for the executives of export companies—and their profits cause all of us to suffer. Now is the time for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to put an end to inflation and stop the permitting of gas export terminals.
General Russel Honoré is a retired lieutenant general of the US Army and leader of the Green Army, a nonprofit organization dedicated to finding solutions to pollution.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
