Innovative technologies that leverage domestic natural gas for sustained economic and environmental progress will be key to the future of American energy, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), told MSC members last week.
We need “innovation, not elimination” to use our nation’s abundant resources in the cleanest way possible, he said.
“The natural gas industry knows firsthand the opportunities that exist when innovation is put to work,” Sen. Manchin continued. “It is through innovation that the Marcellus shale region became an energy and economic powerhouse for Appalachia and our entire country.”
The Senator is absolutely right. Our industry is comprised of engineers, scientists, manufacturers, builders, and environmentalists, and we have every incentive to prioritize investments in technologies that make our production methods cleaner and more efficient than ever before.
We’ve already achieved significant environmental gains thanks to our domestic shale revolution, which boosted natural gas production – driven primarily by Appalachia’s growth – in America.
As Senator Manchin told members, “if it hadn’t been for the discoveries of fracking, we would still be dependent in so many different arenas and areas on other countries for our energy needs.”
Here in Pennsylvania, as more domestic natural gas is used to generate reliable, affordable energy for millions of homes and manufacturing facilities, carbon dioxide emissions from the electric power generation sector were 40 percent lower in 2018 from 2005 levels, according to state Pa. DEP data.
Even as economic activity resurges, positive air quality gains will continue as natural gas use expands in the residential sector. Currently, 90% of homes in Western Pennsylvania and adjacent states use natural gas for heating, Mike Huwar, president of Peoples Natural Gas, also told MSC members last week.
Nationally, approximately 50% of American homes are heated with natural gas, Huwar said, and “as an industry, we have a lot to look forward to.”
“We see natural gas working in tandem and evolving with alternate energies as the industry develops technologies targeted to meet the demands of our customers and of the environment,” he continued.
This partnership between natural gas and renewables can be witnessed firsthand here in western Pennsylvania, where a microgrid using both natural gas and solar energy generated onsite will cleanly and dependably power the Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT).
Pittsburgh-based Peoples Natural Gas will be operating PIT’s microgrid, which will source 23MW of electricity for the airport’s terminals, airfield, gas station, and hotels. While peak demand for the airport is currently 14MW, natural gas will provide the baseload 20MW of electricity, with solar energy providing the additional 3MW.
“We are leveraging the talents and skills of our local workforce and partners to create an energy source that is resilient and sustainable,” Tom Woodrow, vice president of engineering at PIT said of the project.
Using the skills of our local workforce in the energy sector, as Woodrow alludes, can be a useful way to achieve the President’s “build back better” initiatives of restoring family-sustaining job opportunities and growing our domestic manufacturing sector.
“If you’re going to bring manufacturing jobs back, you’re going to need energy,” Sen. Manchin concluded in his remarks. “How can we talk about bringing these jobs back to America if we don’t have the energy to run the factories manufacturing these products?”
Click the video below to watch Senator Manchin’s remarks, as well as a Q&A with MSC president Dave Callahan:
