![]() But the truth is that the federal government helped create the fracking revolution. Some environmentalists despair that this means there’s nothing governments can do on climate. The lesson for climate change is obvious: Innovation is the key to moving from dirtier fuels to cleaner ones. The surge in domestic production of low-cost natural gas is displacing coal in electricity generation, with the result that coal ( which emits about twice as much carbon dioxide as gas during combustion) now provides about 30% of domestic electricity, down from 44% five years ago. In fact, without the surge in domestic natural gas production, the Obama administration’s controversial Clean Power Plan would be essentially impossible to implement. natural gas production hit nearly 91 billion cubic feet per day. That’s an increase of about 27 billion cubic feet per day since August 2006. That increase is roughly equal to the combined gas output of three OPEC members: Algeria, Iran and Venezuela. Our newfound ability to extract hydrocarbons from shale has also been a net win in the effort to cut carbon dioxide emissions. About $60 billion of those planned investments were slated for oil sands projects. Just last month, Royal Dutch Shell announced it was halting its Carmon Creek oil sands project in Alberta due to low oil prices. ![]() Energy analysts at Wood MacKenzie recently estimated that $200 billion in oil and gas investments in 45 projects around the world were being delayed due to low prices. Economics, not politics, will decide the fate of Canada's tar sands.
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