Chapter 22A Very Short History of American

Natural Gas and Regulatory Stupidity

Power Hungry by Robert Bryce

Brandon Cooper

“Oil Was Cash Natural Gas Was Trash”-Robert Bryce

Oil• Easy to handle• Easy to store • Useful (Manufacturing, Lubrication, Heating, Transportation, etc…)

Natural Gas• Difficult to transport• Difficult to utilize (Need high quality pipelines)

• Has tendency to explode

Natural Gas History1891- First high-pressure natural gas pipeline built to supply

Chicago,

1907- Shut down due to leaks

1910-1920- Advances in pipeline welding technology

1930’s- Natural gas is still not economical to produce in large quantities. $0.03 per thousand cubic feet– Dumping Natural gas into the atmosphere– Flaring Natural gas

In the early 1950’s natural gas nearly takes the grater market share away from coal until…

“Regulatory Stupidity”

1954-Supreme court case Phillips Petroleum Co. Vs. WisconsinThis case gave federal authorities the power to set interstate prices on natural gas.

This caused natural gas to be uneconomic for some gas companies.

This causes natural gas shortages and outages in many parts of the country.

Further Natural Gas Regulations1978- Pressured by coal companies congress passes

the: Power Plant and Industrial Fuel Act, and the Natural Gas Policy Act.– The Power Plant Act stated that natural gas could not be used for

electricity generation.– The Natural Gas Policy created many categories of pricing for natural

gas.

1987- Congress repeals these two acts, but the damage could not be undone.– Due to the Power Plant Act there were no operating natural gas plants,

and the countries CO2 emissions were higher due to the increased use of coal.

Today congress is trying to find solutions to these problems that it helped create

Stripper PowerWhat constitutes a stripper well?

– Oil stripper wells produces less than 10 barrels of oil per day.– Natural gas stripper wells produces less than 60,000 cubic feet per day

Power Density (Watts per square meter)

Oil Stripper Well 27Gas Stripper Well 28Wind Turbine 1.2

Questions???

References:Bryce, Robert. Power Hungry: the Myths of "green" Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future. New York, NY: PublicAffairs, 2010.