Chesapeake Energy CEO Says Increased Use of Natural Gas Would Benefit Environment and Economy

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--At Chesapeake Energy's (NYSE:CHK) (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) recent shareholder's meeting, Chairman and CEO Aubrey McClendon suggested that the increased use of natural gas would be a way to help the U.S. stop indirectly funding nations that are "declared enemies" and would benefit the environment as well. McClendon called the lack of availability of natural-gas-powered cars in the U.S. "the most frustrating part of my existence today" and pointed out that General Motors (OTC:GMGMQ) (Detroit, Michigan) manufactures 12 car models throughout the world that come off of the assembly line ready to run on natural gas, yet no such models in the U.S. McClendon said, "We export half a trillion dollars of national wealth every year to other countries, many of which are our declared enemies. We're on both sides of the war on terror; we're fighting it, and we're funding it. That's got to stop, and the way to do that is to use an American fuel, not a foreign fuel. The way to do that is to begin to convert cars to natural gas."

McClendon also pointed out that the increased use of natural gas in power generation would be more environmentally friendly and legislatively easier than the scheme outlined in the currently proposed American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (Waxman-Markey Bill), a cap-and-trade-based bill intended to curb the emissions of greenhouse gases. "We could meet all of our greenhouse-gas emissions standards or goals by 2020 without having to go through all of the brain damage that's going to happen as a result of this Markey-Waxman cap-and-trade bill if we would just recognize that we can begin to slowly transition the generation of electricity away from coal and towards natural gas. If we begin to do that, then we don't have to impose the burdens--the taxation, the cost burdens, the regulatory burdens--on the economy of having these cap-and-trade bills out there."

The increased abundance of natural gas in recent years, specifically that coming from recoverable gas in the Marcellus, Barnett, Fayetteville and recently discovered Haynesville shales, provides an opportunity for natural gas to become a stronger player in the American energy sector. "We were early to recognize that shale gas would become the biggest game-changer in the modern history of this industry, and when the history of this part of the industry is written over the next few decades, the years of 2005 to 2009 will go down as, in my opinion, the most important, defining four years in the modern history of the natural gas business," said McClendon. "It's when a handful of companies, of which Chesapeake was one, went out and rediscovered how you find natural gas in the country, and as a consequence of which natural gas prices are the most affordable they've been in seven years. We now have growing amounts of natural gas, and if you want to have transportation that takes you around and doesn't pollute and doesn't require foreign oil and creates American jobs, then natural gas is the answer. If you don't like to pollute through coal emissions when you burn electricity, then you want to turn to natural gas to make electricity."

Chesapeake Energy discovered the Haynesville Shale, located in northwestern Louisiana and eastern Texas. The company claims that the shale could potentially be the largest gas field in the U.S. Information on Chesapeake's drilling program in the Haynesville Shale as well as other projects involving the production, storage, transmission and processing of natural gas can be found in Industrial Info's North American Industrial Database.

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