Commentary
When B-2 bombers took off from Missouri to attack targets across Iran, President Trump was leveraging more than America’s military might—America’s energy dominance was on full display.
America’s shale revolution and ascension to the world’s largest oil and natural gas producer has made one fact abundantly clear: energy security is national security. No longer are geopolitical and national security decisions held hostage to the threat of energy price spikes. Because of oil from Texas and natural gas from Appalachia, Americans aren’t facing the energy supply shocks that were once guaranteed to follow rising Middle East tensions.
Home to the nation’s largest natural gas field with the Marcellus and Utica shales, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia produce a third of America’s natural gas. That’s energy that keeps the lights on in our homes, the heat flowing in the winter, and power steady and reliable for factories, hospitals, military bases, and critical infrastructure across America. But it does much more. Appalachian natural gas is a big part of what makes America strong, self-reliant, and free.
Throughout history, energy security has meant physical security. When we have the energy we need, produced right here at home, we reduce our dependence on unstable or hostile nations. We insulate ourselves from supply disruptions and price shocks triggered by global conflicts. And we make sure that in times of crisis, from natural disasters to national emergencies, we have the fuel to respond, rebuild, and defend.
Our abundant, reliable natural gas underpins the strength of our Armed Forces and the resilience of our economy. Employing millions of our own people, energy powers the manufacturing of steel, ammunition, vehicles, and the technologies that support our troops. It safeguards critical operations from cyber and physical threats by ensuring reliable, secure power supplies.
And as artificial intelligence rapidly transforms industries, it’s natural gas that remains the only fuel fully capable of meeting the intense, always-on energy requirements these technologies depend on.
In short, energy security protects American lives and the American way of life.
But here’s the challenge: While we produce more than enough clean-burning, affordable natural gas to meet our needs and support allies overseas, we can’t move enough of it to where it’s needed most. And electrical grid operators face mounting strain as power-hungry technologies accelerate demand.
The missing links? Pipelines and new gas-fired generation. Without more infrastructure to safely and efficiently transport and use domestic energy, we leave ourselves exposed to higher costs, supply vulnerabilities, and reliance on foreign adversaries.
