VCE Weekly Update

Public Meeting on Proposed New York Power Plant

There will be a public meeting on the proposed power plant in Glenville, New York. It will be held on Wednesday, May 10 at 7 p.m. at the Glenville Senior Citizens Center, 32 Worden Road, Glenville, NY. Tom Macaulay will be there for Glenville Energy Park.

See 05/08: "Glenville seeks role in plant review; Will ask state to grant intervenor status" - Schenectady County News

The Future of Natural Gas: High Prices, Short Supplies, Increased Demand

by Annette Smith (Executive Director of Vermonters for a Clean Environment, Inc.)

Two newspaper articles appeared over the weekend, putting slightly different spins on the story that natural gas prices are rising, supplies are declining, and demand is increasing.

The first article, "First-Quarter Figures Show Drop in Natural Gas Production, Hike in Prices" in the Houston Chronicle, May 6, 2000, quotes the chief executive officer of EOG Resources, 85 percent of whose production is natural gas, saying "What's driven up these gas prices in the last few months is more of a supply-constrained environment than a demand-pull situation. What we're seeing is, we're just not drilling enough gas wells as a nation and we're really not even able to keep gas production flat."

The second article, "Hot Decade Ahead for Natural Gas as Demand Grows for Cleaner Fuel" in the Los Angeles Times, May 7, 2000, argues that on the positive side, there is plenty of gas available. Drilling to unprecedented depths and extracting deposits from remote territories such as northwest Canada, off Canada's east coast, and on Alaska's North Slope are the hopes for the future.

"Demand is rising faster than supply for U.S. natural gas, a trend that will make for higher electricity bills, experts say, as the clean burning fuel is used increasingly for power generation."

Twenty seven companies account for about 40 percent of U.S. natural gas production, and the major oil companies own the greatest reserves of natural gas, including Exxon Mobil, BP Amoco, and Chevron.

All of this is "good news for companies and investors, if not for consumers of natural gas," according to one financial analyst.

What can YOU do?
Support VCE.
Send your tax-deductible contributions to the address below.
Thank You