P newable energy sources since the 1970s.
Solar-powered cars lead parades at auto races. Environmental associations house themselves in "green energy" buildings. High school textbooks project a future without fossil fuels, while the renewables community portrays natural gas use as a mere "transitional fuel." Some in the natural gas industry have expressed concern about the popular press's excessively optimistic view of renewable energy sources. They point out that renewables are not always "clean and green." Additionally, natural gas should not necessarily be characterized as an "undesirable" fossil fuel whose use must be reduced or eliminated. Up to now, however, there seemed to be little need for the natural gas industry to try to help the public develop more realistic images of gas and renewables. The slow progress of renewables research and the failure of renewables to break through the competitive cost barrier seemed to minimize their ability to compete with natural gas.
New federal legislation now threatens the natural gas industry's "live and let live" attitude toward renewables. Most omnibus federal electricity restructuring bills call for mandated use of renewable energy at levels that threaten futureand possibly current-natural gas demand. This article explores why this situation has emerged
Charlotte LeGates is the director of industry and public relations at the Natural Gas Supply Association. While NGSA opposes mandated use of renewable energy, the opinions expressed in this article are entirely the author's own. LeGates also authored "Possible Downsides Seen for Gas from Electricity
Restructuring" in the June issue of Natural Gas, which discusses additional aspects of federal electricity restructuring legislation of concern to the natural gas industry.