Natural Gas Is Having an Identity Crisis
Amy Myers Jaffe co-publishes an op-ed for the Houston Chronicle on the regulations needed for the natural gas industry.
Long marketed to the public as both the bridge fuel to clean energy and the reliable backup to intermittent wind, natural gas is being questioned by environmentalists, end-users and grid operators alike. In the debate spurred by the near collapse of the Texas electricity grid, chicken and egg questions surfaced about sudden, near-simultaneous natural gas and electricity shortages. The reputation of natural gas for reliability took a stumble. To recover, the industry needs to do a full rethink of how it operates. Texas regulators should too.