America’s Natural Gas Opportunities
Mary Schaper
Posted November 21, 2013
The Strange Debate over LNG Exports
UPI Analysis: WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 -- The debate over exports of U.S. liquefied natural gas is exceedingly strange. In Washington one sometimes hears calls to limit imports of given goods or services but limits on exports?
When U.S. President Barack Obama talked of doubling U.S. exports in five years in his 2010 State of the Union Address, some said this was an unrealistic objective but nobody said it wasn't a worthy goal, particularly to support the United States' economic recovery.
Since Adam Smith, of course, economists have understood that restrictions on imports or exports reduce overall national welfare. But the politics of imports and exports are different.
The costs of allowing imports are generally borne by identifiable firms and their workers but the benefits of imports are typically widely dispersed and thus effectively invisible.
Exports have an opposite dynamic. Increased export sales directly benefit identifiable firms and their workers. Any costs are typically spread thinly and invisibly over the whole economy.
Read more: http://bit.ly/1h5umeF
More industry news:
- U.S. Shale Boom is Bridge to Future Cleaner-Burning Fuels: http://bloom.bg/18Tyd68
- Liquefied Natural Gas Exports are Key to America’s Future: http://bsun.md/1aU7hmL
- Huge Leap in Natural Gas in Northern States Helps Reduce Reliance on Imports: http://bit.ly/18Txa6d
- Fracking Without Freshwater at a West Texas Oilfield: http://reut.rs/1aU7pTi
- More than Half of Colorado Voters Support Fracking, Survey Finds: http://bit.ly/18TxSAz
- Tale of Two Pipes: Gulf Coast Pipeline Ready, Keystone XL Stalls: http://bit.ly/1cI1ZgR
About The Author
Mary Schaper is a Digital Communications Manager for the American Petroleum Institute. She previously worked on Capitol Hill for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee as Digital Director and for Senator Lisa Murkowski. Before coming to D.C., she spearheaded digital strategy for Murkowski's successful Senate write-in campaign in 2010. Schaper enjoys traveling and taking in the local culture alongside her husband, their son and loyal springer spaniel.