But the demand for gas and oil keeps growing. Industry experts predict demand for gas rising above 30 trillion cubic feet by 2015, an increase of more than 40 percent above our 1998 level. That s enough to last from 60 to 70 years at current consumption levels. Alaska s gas resources alone exceed 300-trillion cubic feet. A large part of these reserves are on Bureau of Land Management property in the Rocky Mountains, the Gulf of Mexico, and along the Atlantic and Pacific Outer Continental shelves.
Access is limited or non-existent.
Resources in the form of untouchable reserves are not really resources at all. We can pick that fruit if we re allowed to, and not hurt the tree. Today's high prices may help create the broad public support we need to do it. And we don t just need more supply, we need a diversity of supply. Natural gas is the fuel of choice for electricity generation.