Energy Security is National Security, and American natural gas resources are protecting affordability
Energy security is national security. America’s robust domestic energy resources are our strategic advantage in maintaining economic security and conflict readiness. Our abundant natural gas reserves continue to insulate American families and businesses from global price spikes while ensuring we can sustain our ability to lead the world in natural gas exports to support our global allies.
In an era of escalating geopolitical conflicts, it is imperative that the United States be economically stable, secure and combat ready. Energy is essential to achieving these objectives, and our robust domestic natural gas and natural gas delivery system serve as the bedrock of defense manufacturing and readiness, both as a feedstock and by empowering the power grid of today and the future.
The last time the United States entered into a conflict in the Middle East, we found ourselves on drastically different footing. On March 20, 2003 at the start of the Iraq War, the U.S. was an energy importer – relying on foreign fuels to feed our energy needs. The Henry Hub natural gas spot price was $5.20/MMBtu, which translates to $9.22/MMBtu in today’s dollars.
Today, the U.S. is both the world’s largest producer and largest exporter of natural gas – a fact that is making all the difference for our economy, our ability to ramp up military production if and when needed, and our ability to insulate consumers from price spikes in the face of geopolitical uncertainty.
As the conflict in Iran continues to disrupt energy flows through and from the Middle East, international markets have experienced significant turmoil. European natural gas prices have risen above $18, while Asian markets have seen similar spikes. By contrast, America’s Henry Hub sits at just above $3, even on the heels of a cold winter and of severe storms in the Midwest.
America’s robust domestic energy supplies, storage infrastructure and extensive natural gas delivery system have insulated domestic markets from the international supply constraints and protected American families and businesses from price spikes. The natural gas industry has kept houses warm and businesses operating through severe weather, all while also working to meet the needs military production and support our partners and allies oversees.
However, if we hope to maintain the insulated energy prices that we are enjoying today in the long term, we must make investments in our energy system and be allowed to continue to grow and evolve to meet America’s needs.
Our national security demands a reliable and resilient source of energy, and the American natural gas industry and our utilities can and are delivering that reliability and resiliency while protecting affordability for American families. We stand ready to make the necessary investments to help ensure our system can grow to meet new needs without burdening existing customers – but to do so, we must get broken and misguided policies out of the way.
Unleashing the full power of American energy infrastructure is a critical national security imperative. Our natural gas infrastructure must keep pace with our domestic needs, and to do that we must modernize our outdated and costly permitting process, add new energy storage and end the ill-conceived ban on natural gas use in federal buildings, including America’s military installations, set to begin next year.
A new report from the Center for Strategic International Studies (CSIS) projects that, under several mobilization scenarios analyzed, energy demand for defense-critical materials could increase two- to sixfold during the course of a conflict. The study underscores that the natural gas industry and natural gas utilities are essential for a reliable and resilient energy system and that energy dominance and defense readiness must be linked to ensure reliable energy access and to realize the full power of American industry.
Policies that delay the construction of natural gas infrastructure, including pipelines and storage facilities, jeopardize our energy security. They also impose some of the steepest costs and often insurmountable roadblocks to building out essential infrastructure.
America’s robust domestic energy supply and our existing infrastructure are clearly demonstrating themselves as a stronghold of our national security today. As we look ahead to the future, now is the time to unleash American energy, empower it, and support our families, our businesses, and our nation’s security.