Such projections were based on disturbing trends, such as declining finding rates for new gas fields and a continuing drop in proved gas reserves. The domestic natural gas resource base was considered mature, the largest gas fields having been discovered between 1910 and 1956. The extreme pessimism regarding the future of natural gas culminated in 1978 with the passage of the Power Plant and Industrial Fuel Use Act, which legally restrained the utilization of natural gas in industrial and electric utility plants. Currently, there is a new and radically different conventional wisdom regarding the future of natural gas. Short-term production is in relative balance with demand, after a period of surplus capacity caused by a combination of energy conservation and industrial fuel switching away from gas.
Natural gas is now a preferred fuel.
It offers environmental advantages over other fossil fuels and, with the 1987 modifications of the Fuel Use Act, it is expected to play an increasingly important role in the future domestic energy mix. The estimates of several other energy research institutions have been comparably optimistic. While many of the models seem to be driven from the demand side, there is some good news on the supply side as well. Proved natural gas reserves are no longer in free fall. While down by 15 percent over the past 10 years, they have declined by only 2 percent since 1990, and even slightly increased in 1994 and 1995.