Even now, say nuclear advocates, any new move in the nuclear direction would be a baby step because of issues involving disposal of wastes and fears foisted upon the public by radical environmentalists. So we must look to electric generating plants fired by coal, petroleum, hydropower or natural gas. Those same foes of nuclear power also put coal, fuel oil and new dams on the back burner as tools for generating power. That left natural gas an efficient, clean-burning fossil fuel that results when, through one of nature s mystical processes, petroleum becomes a vapor. There s a tendency to view natural gas and electricity as rivals.
Residential users choose between one or the other for heating and cooking.
Certainly they are quite different energy forms, with electricity having been generated and gas brought up from underground. But these two powerhouses of our energy-dependent society increasingly are partners. This will be a problem for the new presidential panel assigned the task of creating a national energy policy. Headed by Vice President Richard Cheney, an energy expert, it is expected to report in about a month. Its recommendations likely will be merged with energy legislation proposed by various GOP members of Congress, and the issue promises to be a center of debate for months.