As the Russia-Ukraine crisis unfolds, Pennsylvania-produced natural gas is key to helping meet European energy needs and enhancing America’s energy security.

“America is the world’s largest producer and exporter of natural gas, with the Appalachian Basin alone representing the third largest producing region in the world, positioning our industry to assist our strategic trading partners and meet our own energy demands,” Marcellus Shale Coalition president Dave Callahan told reporters Friday.

Fueled in part by Appalachia’s shale energy revolution over the past decade, America is now the world’s largest natural gas producer and LNG exporter. Sharing our natural gas abundance with the world helps allies break Russian energy dependence while boosting global climate progress and our economy here at home.

And it’s “no accident” our industry has the ability to support Europe amid its current crisis, leaders from the Natural Gas Council recently wrote in a letter to President Biden. “It was enabled by American innovation and federal and state policies that welcomed natural gas infrastructure investment.”

“There’s an opportunity here to send Pennsylvania and U.S. LNG to help our European allies,” Callahan said on WPHT’s The Dom Giordano Show. “We can, and should, do it.”

Protecting freedom and defending against tyranny is a common goal, and one we must deploy to “leverage the full force of America’s strength to assist our allies, including maximizing the utilization of our stable energy supplies,” MSC’s Callahan said.

Here’s what’s being said about American LNG aiding Europe’s energy and humanitarian crises:

  • “[Domestic oil and gas production] increases U.S. energy security and makes us essential to the energy security of others,” a group of U.S. Senators wrote to Energy Secretary Granholm this February.
  • “As the second largest natural gas producer in the nation, Pennsylvania is in a unique position to aid our European allies,” Pennsylvania’s House Leadership wrote to Governor Wolf this month. “We have abundant resources to both meet and expand our domestic utilization, while also fueling our allies that for too long have been subject to the political, military and economic whims of Russia.”
  • Toby Rice, CEO, EQT Corporation: “Not only has coal-to-gas switching been the leading contributor to the world-leading emissions reduction experienced in the United States over the last fifteen years, our ability to leverage U.S. LNG as our primary weapon against global emissions is equally proven and impactful,” he wrote in a letter to U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. “Since the first installation of LNG export facilities in 2016, the decarbonization impact of the U.S. LNG export industry replacing international coal is greater than the impact of the of the entire U.S. solar industry over the fifteen-year period of 2005 to 2019.”
  • William Reinsch, Sr. Advisor, Center for Strategic & International Studies: “One of the consequences of what’s happened is that Western Europe is going to find ways to develop substitutes for Russian gas because it’s clearly going to be perceived as an unreliable source of supply under the circumstances.”
  • Pennsylvania State Senator Gene Yaw (R, 23): “The United States can change course. We can ramp up energy production with the same urgency we experienced when manufacturers pivoted to make masks and ventilators at the onset of the pandemic. We can ease Biden-era policies meant to restrict oil and gas production and exports. We can greenlight Keystone and other pipelines. And we can unleash our plentiful gas supply right here in Pennsylvania to help with that mammoth effort.”
  • Gene Barr, President & CEO, Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry: “America and Canada have among the most stringent production standards globally — not to mention that the United States has led the developed world in reducing greenhouse gas emissions over the past two decades. Pennsylvania has helped the United States achieve those reductions through its competitive markets and leadership production in shale gas. Our state is the number two producer of natural gas and the leader in energy exports to other states.” (Reading Eagle)
  • Daniel Yergin, Vice Chairman, IHS Markit: “I think people just forgot about energy security. As the U.S. went from importing 60 percent of our oil to becoming an exporter, we then didn’t think about it anymore. What we’ve had recently is somewhat shortsighted policies about investment. And the term I’ve been using is “pre-emptive underinvestment” in developing new resources. Oil demand is still increasing and is likely to increase at least for the rest of this decade and perhaps an early next decade.” (The New York Times)
  • Anne Bradbury, CEO, American Exploration & Production Council (AXPC): “American natural gas is stepping up to fill the energy void. In February alone, Europe received nearly 70% of all U.S. LNG exports thanks to our ability to redirect cargoes to markets that are in the most need. And we are only scratching the surface of what America’s energy industry is capable of.” (Houston Chronicle)
  • Congressman Fred Keller (R, Pa.’s 12th Congressional District): “I agree that American energy should fuel our nation and our allies. After all, the United States produces energy more cleanly and efficiently than any other nation on Earth. And Pennsylvania would stand to benefit as we are home to some of the largest deposits of natural gas globally.” (Sunbury Daily Item)
  • Congressman Guy Reschenthaler (R, Pa.’s 14th Congressional District): Reschenthaler called Pennsylvania “a state among nations in energy production. There is an abundance of natural gas here.” (Observer-Reporter)
  • “Along with consumers, both domestically and overseas, natural gas infrastructure benefits the building trades who rely on projects like pipeline construction,” Callahan told Lehigh Valley Live.