Natural Gas: The Backbone for Defense-Critical Industries
As geopolitical conflicts around the world continue to escalate, a new report from Joseph Majkut, Director, Energy Security and Climate Change Program, Alexander Palmer, Fellow, Warfare, Irregular Threats, and Terrorism Program, and Raj Sawhney, Adjunct Fellow (Non-resident), Energy Security and Climate Change Program with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), with the support of the American Gas Foundation, demonstrates the inextricable link between energy strength and national security. The report highlights the resiliency imperative for increased energy infrastructure, additional energy storage and an end to the ill-conceived ban on natural gas use in federal buildings, including America’s military installations, set to begin next year.
The study from CSIS projects that under several mobilization scenarios analyzed, energy demand for defense critical materials could increase between two and sixfold during the course of a conflict. To meet these needs reliably, energy dominance and defense readiness must be linked to ensure reliable energy access and to realize the full power of American industry.
The study presents key recommendations to fortify America’s energy distribution and defense manufacturing capacity, including creating a dedicated permitting and finance pathway for energy assurance at designated industrial facilities, ending bans on natural gas infrastructure in federal buildings, especially military installations, and integrating energy resilience into defense supply chain risk assessments. The study underscores that the natural gas industry and natural gas utilities are essential for a reliable and resilient energy system especially as direct industrial fuel suppliers and as the backbone for the electric grids serving defense-critical industries.
According to AGA President and CEO Karen Harbert, 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 essential infrastructure. AGA has long advocated for robust permitting reform to unlock the opportunities of America’s economic future while protecting affordability and reliability for American families and businesses.