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Friday, January 20, 2012

Obama rejects Canada-Texas oil pipeline _ for now

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, second from right, accompanied by fellow Republican leaders, gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012, to voice their opposition to President Barack Obama's decision to reject the Keystone XL pipeline. From left are, Rep. Tim Griffin, R-Ark.; Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas; Boehner; and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Va. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, center, accompanied by fellow Republican leaders, gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012, to voice their opposition to President Barack Obama's decision to reject the Keystone XL pipeline. From left are, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich.; Rep Tim Griffin, R-Ark.; Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas; Boehner; and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Va. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Rep. Tim Griffin, R-Ark., second from left, accompanied by fellow Republican leaders, gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012, to object to President Barack Obama's decision to reject the Keystone XL pipeline. From left are: Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich.; Griffin; Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, and House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, center, accompanied by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Va., right, and Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012, to discuss President Barack Obama's decision to halt the Keystone XL pipeline. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? In a politically explosive decision, President Barack Obama on Wednesday rejected plans for a massive oil pipeline through the heart of the United States, ruling there was not enough time for a fair review before a looming deadline forced on him by Republicans. His move did not kill the project but could again delay a tough choice for him until after the November elections.

Right away, the implications rippled across the political spectrum, stirred up the presidential campaign and even hardened feelings with Canada, a trusted U.S. ally and neighbor. For a U.S. electorate eager for work, the pipeline has become the very symbol of job creation for Republicans, but Obama says the environment and public safety must still be weighed too.

The plan by Calgary-based TransCanada Corp. would carry tar sands oil from western Canada across a 1,700-mile pipeline across six U.S. states to Texas refineries.

Obama was already on record as saying no, for now, until his government could review an alternative route that avoided environmentally sensitive areas of Nebraska ? a route that still has not been proposed, as the White House emphasizes. But Obama had to take a stand again by Feb. 21 at the latest as part of an unrelated tax deal he cut with Republicans.

This time, the project would go forward unless Obama himself declared it was not in the national interest. The president did just that, reviving intense reaction.

"This announcement is not a judgment on the merits of the pipeline, but the arbitrary nature of a deadline that prevented the State Department from gathering the information necessary to approve the project and protect the American people," Obama said in a written statement. "I'm disappointed that Republicans in Congress forced this decision."

Republicans responded unsparingly.

"President Obama is destroying tens of thousands of American jobs and shipping American energy security to the Chinese. There's really just no other way to put it. The president is selling out American jobs for politics," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said. Insisting that the pipeline would help the economy, he declared: "This is not the end of the fight," signaling that Republicans might try again to force a decision.

The State Department said the decision was made "without prejudice," meaning TransCanada can submit a new application once a new route is established. Russ Girling, TransCanada's president and chief executive officer, said the company plans to do exactly that. If approved, the pipeline could begin operation as soon as 2014, Girling said.

It did not take long for the Republicans seeking Obama's job to slam him.

Newt Gingrich, campaigning for the GOP presidential nomination in South Carolina, called Obama's decision "stunningly stupid," adding: "What Obama has done is kill jobs, weaken American security and drive Canada into the arms of China out of just sheer stupidity."

Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney said the decision was "as shocking as it is revealing. It shows a president who once again has put politics ahead of sound policy."

Project supporters say U.S. rejection of the pipeline would not stop it from being built. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said Canada is serious about building a pipeline to its West Coast, where oil could be shipped to China and other Asian markets.

Harper on Wednesday told Obama he was profoundly disappointed that Obama turned down the pipeline, Harper's office said.

Alex Pourbaix, TransCanada's president for energy and oil pipelines, said last week the company soon will have a new route through Nebraska "that everyone agrees on."

The proposed $7 billion pipeline would run through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma en route to Texas.

The pipeline is a dicey proposition for Obama, who enjoyed strong support from both organized labor and environmentalists in his winning 2008 campaign for the White House.

Environmental advocates have made it clear that approval of the pipeline would dampen their enthusiasm for Obama in the upcoming November election. Some liberal donors even threatened to cut off funds to Obama's re-election campaign to protest the project, which opponents say would transport "dirty oil" that requires huge amounts of energy to extract.

But by rejecting the pipeline, Obama risks losing support from organized labor, a key part of the Democratic base, for thwarting thousands of jobs.

"The score is Job-Killers, two; American workers, zero," said Terry O'Sullivan, general president of the Laborers' International Union of North America.

O'Sullivan called the decision "politics at its worst" and said, "Blue collar construction workers across the U.S. will not forget this."

Yet some unions that back Obama oppose the pipeline, included United Auto Workers, Service Employees International Union and Communications Workers of America.

TransCanada says the pipeline could create as many as 20,000 jobs, a figure opponents say is inflated. A State Department report last summer said the pipeline would create up to 6,000 jobs during construction.

Obama appeared to have skirted what some dubbed the "Keystone conundrum" in November when the State Department announced it was postponing a decision on the pipeline until after this year's election. Officials said they needed extra time to study routes that avoid an environmentally sensitive area of Nebraska that supplies water to eight states.

The affected area stretches just 65 miles through the Sandhills region of northern Nebraska, but the concerns were serious enough that the state's governor and senators opposed the project until the pipeline was moved. The new route, which has not been chosen, would have to be approved by Nebraska environmental officials and the State Department, which has authority because the pipeline would cross an international border.

Obama said his decision does not "change my administration's commitment to American-made energy that creates jobs and reduces our dependence on oil."

To underscore the point, Obama signaled that he would not oppose development of an oil pipeline from Oklahoma to refineries along the Gulf of Mexico. TransCanada already operates a pipeline from Canada to Cushing, Okla.

Refineries in Houston and along the Texas Gulf Coast can handle heavy crude such as that extracted from Canadian tar sands ? the type of oil that would flow through the Keystone XL pipeline.

Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said he doesn't believe the Keystone XL is a dead project. He said the Obama administration did not have enough time to review the project, given the Republican-imposed timeline.

"I don't believe this is the end of the story," Conrad told The Associated Press. "My personal view is that it should be constructed. It's clear Canada is going to develop this resource, and I believe it is better for our country to have it go here rather than Asian markets."

Bill McKibben, an environmental activist who led opposition to the pipeline, praised Obama's decision to stand up to what he called a "naked political threat from Big Oil." Jack Gerard, the oil industry's top lobbyist, had said last week that Obama faced "huge political consequences" if he rejected the pipeline.

"It's not only the right thing, it's a very brave thing to do," McKibben said. "That's the Barack Obama I think people thought they were electing back in 2008."

___

Associated Press writers Dina Cappiello, Laurie Kellman and Sam Hananel in Washington, Shannon McCaffrey in Warrenville, S.C., Ramit Plushnick-Masti in Houston and James MacPherson in Bismarck, N.D., contributed to this report.

___

Follow Matthew Daly on Twitter: (at)MatthewDalyWDC.

Follow Ben Feller on Twitter: (at)BenFellerDC

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-18-US-Oil-Pipeline/id-57654730bebc4e2ab12f509c8f4f09cc

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Thursday, January 19, 2012

5 insanely thin and light laptops that are coming soon (Yahoo! News)

An army of ultrabooks on display

There's a whole new wave of gadgets right around the corner that you might not have even known you needed ? until now, of course. Meet the ultrabook, a class of super-slim, considerably powerful notebook computers that are cut from the same cloth as Apple's MacBook Air. "Ultrabook" might not be a word you've heard before, but the idea is meant to inspire a category of laptop that is nearly as mobile as a tablet, but that doesn't sacrifice power for portability ? the ultimate pitfall of the netbook.

Ultrabooks are on the way, but choosing between them won't be easy. Assuming you don't take the Mac route and opt for Apple's own offering, the members of this tidal wave of featherweight computers running Windows will share most of their features in common by definition. In fact, the term "ultrabook" is a trademarked term, owned by Intel. To qualify as an ultrabook, a notebook computer should hover around the $1,000 mark, be no more than .8" thick, weigh less than 3.1 lb., and boast a respectable battery life and an efficient?solid-state drive (SSD) rather than a traditional mechanical harddrive.

As you'll see, these rules were meant to be broken, but even some of the notebooks that stray a little from the mold are interesting enough to keep an eye out for. Here are five favorite ultrabooks, some available now and some on the way soon, and what sets them each apart from the pack.

Samsung Series 9 is a handsome, high-end choice

Samsung's sleek premium notebook

The new Samsung Series 9 is a shoo-in. Last year's Series 9 ultralight was already ahead of the curve ? in fact, it made a point of asserting itself as the lightest notebook on the market. Samsung has had a year to refine its ultra-portable model, and the new Series 9 is as polished and good-looking as it is powerful.

The Series 9 offers a surprisingly sharp, matte 1600 x 900 13" display, an SD card slot, Core i5 processor, and a 7-hour battery life. Of course, you'll pay $1,399 for the feature set, which is considerably more than the $1,000 target price point. If you have the cash and are taken (like we were) with the notebook's striking black alumninum, watch for the Series 9 from Samsung in February.

Dell's value-minded XPS 13 balances features with a friendly price tag

Dell's XPS 13

As Dell's budget-minded follow-up to its head-turning notebook the Adamo, the XPS 13 is no slouch. The XPS doesn't reinvent the wheel, but starting at $999, it really doesn't need to. The XPS 13 is comfortably rounded off (unlike the razor-sharp design of the Asus Zenbook), with a solid build, and a comfortable backlit keyboard. Notably, the XPS 13 crams more screen real estate into dimensions usually reserved for its 11" peers, thanks to a super-slim bezel around the Gorilla Glass screen and a thoughtful design.

At 3 lb. even, this light 13.3" laptop can clock in 8 hours of battery life, and it predictably packs a Core i5 processor and 4GB of RAM, and a 128GB harddrive in its starting configuration, much like its peers. The XPS 13 will be available in February, and offers a very nice blend of features for its reasonable price.

The HP Envy 14 Spectre may be a bit thick, but we loved its stylish glass exterior

HP Envy 14 Spectre is on the higher end of pricing but packs interest features like NFC support

The HP Envy 14 Spectre has a design, feature set, and price that put it in line with premium ultrabooks like the Samsung Series 9. The Envy 14 Spectre sports a mirror-like black Gorrila Glass lid, integrated support for NFC, and a 1600 x 900, ultra-sharp 14" Gorilla Glass screen. At .78" and 3.79 lb., the flashy notebook might not be as "ultra-portable" as many of its peers, but you're getting some seriously tough (and seriously good-looking) glass in the trade-off, not to mention Beats audio, and a reported 9-hour battery life. Like the majority of notebooks in its class, the ultrabook includes a mini-HDMI port, dual USB ports, and an SD card slot. HP's Envy 14 Spectre goes on sale February 8, and starts at $1,399 for a basic configuration with a Core i5 processor, 128GB SSD, and 4GB of RAM.

Asus Zenbook UX31 features an eye-catching, razor-sharp design

Asus 13" Zenbook

We found Asus's ultrabook somewhat ironically named. With its combo brushed/polished aluminum frame and jagged edges, the 13" Zenbook was striking for the severity of its design. While the Zenbook's angular look will boil down to a matter of preference, its insides stack up with the competition: the notebook packs a Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM, one USB 2.0 port and a USB 3.0 port in the mix as well. Though the Zenbook has been knocked for its less-than-stellar trackpad, it does sport Bang & Olufsen speakers, which could set it apart from the pack if you like to rock out on the go via your ultraportable computer. The 13" Asus Zenbook is available now for $1,099.

Lenovo's U300s ultrabook offers a comfy keyboard paired with solid value

Lenovo Ideapad U300s

At under 3 lb. and just .58" thick across the board, the Lenovo IdeaPad U300s is in many ways a prototype of the ultrabook class. Lenovo put plenty of thought into the design of the little notebook's keyboard, and the pleasantly rounded keys don't have the same uncomfortably shallow feel to them as many of its peers that cut corners to shave off inches.

Beyond its thoughtful design, the IdeaPad U300s felt solid, and it offers the standard i5 processor, 4GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, all in a sub 3 lb. shell. While it doesn't sport an SD card slot, Lenovo's ultrabook is a solid choice in an 13" ultraportable, and it's available now for $1,199. Did we mention that it comes in orange?

This article was written by Taylor Hatmaker and originally appeared on Tecca

How 3-D Imaging Helped Halt Germany's War Machine in World War II [Video]

Features | More Science

Historians, pilots and interpreters recall the early days of surveillance and aerial photography, which helped the British curb Nazi Germany's military advance. A video from NOVA

By Rose Eveleth ?| January 16, 2012?|

Before satellite images and drones could pinpoint the exact location of enemy targets, warfare was often more like a game of Battleship: a complex series of guesses based on spotty information.

During World War II the British began to change that. They sent their fastest planes not to drop bombs, but to take pictures. By flying over German territory in planes outfitted with several cameras, pilots built a set of images that overlapped one another and could be viewed stereoscopically?that is, in 3-D. These three-dimensional images enabled the British to see for instance, camouflaged ships that would have not been easily spotted in 2-D images.

In this clip from "3D Spies of WWII" by PBS's NOVA, historians and pilots relive the early days of surveillance imaging to explain how those stereoscopic images worked and how they were used. The entire program, airing on PBS Wednesday, January 18 at 9 P.M. Eastern time, reveals more examples of how these images bolstered British war efforts.

Watch Sneak Peak: 3D Spies of WWII on PBS. See more from NOVA.

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Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Obama rejects Canada-Texas oil pipeline _ for now

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney speaks during his daily briefing, Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012, in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama on Wednesday rejected a Canadian company's plan to build a U.S.-spanning, 1,700-mile (2,700 kilometer) pipeline to carry oil across six U.S. states to Texas refineries, raising the stakes on a bitter election year fight with Republicans.

Though the project promises thousands of temporary jobs for the recovering U.S. economy, Obama said a February deadline set by Congress would not allow for a proper review of potential harm from the $7 billion Keystone XL project.

"As the State Department made clear last month, the rushed and arbitrary deadline insisted on by congressional Republicans prevented a full assessment of the pipeline's impact, especially the health and safety of the American people, as well as our environment," Obama, a Democrat, said.

The plan proposed by Calgary-based TransCanada would carry oil from tar sands in western Canada to Texas.

Republicans assailed Obama's decision as a job-killer and said the fight was not over.

And the State Department said the decision was made "without prejudice," meaning TransCanada can submit a new application once a route through environmentally sensitive areas of Nebraska is established.

Russ Girling, TransCanada's president and chief executive officer, said the company plans to do exactly that. If approved, the pipeline could begin operation as soon as 2014, Girling said.

Republicans were not assuaged.

Newt Gingrich, campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination in South Carolina, called Obama's decision "stunningly stupid," adding: "What Obama has done is kill jobs, weaken American security and drive Canada into the arms of China out of just sheer stupidity."

Sen. John Hoeven, a Republican, has said of the Canadian crude oil: "It's going to go to China if we don't build it here."

But Alex Pourbaix, TransCanada Corp.'s president for energy and oil pipelines, said last week the company soon will have a new route through the state of Nebraska "that everyone agrees on."

For now, though, Mitt Romney, the Republican nomination front-runner, called Obama's decision "as shocking as it is revealing," adding that it "shows a president who once again has put politics ahead of sound policy."

The Republican leader of the House, Speaker John Boehner, said Obama was breaking his promise to create jobs.

"This is not the end of this fight," said Boehner. He called the pipeline good for the U.S. economy and a major job creator.

The pipeline proposal has forced the White House to make a politically risky choice between two important Democratic constituencies. Many labor unions back the project because of the prospects of new jobs in a fragile economy. Environmental groups fear the pipeline could lead to an oil spill disaster.

Some liberal donors threatened to cut off funds to Obama's re-election campaign to protest the project, which opponents say would transport "dirty oil" that requires huge amounts of energy to extract.

Obama said his decision was not based on the pipeline's merits but on what he called an arbitrary Feb. 21 deadline set by Republicans in Congress. They set the deadline as part of a tax bill that Obama signed into law in late December.

"I'm disappointed that Republicans in Congress forced this decision, but it does not change my administration's commitment to American-made energy that creates jobs and reduces our dependence on oil," Obama said.

Under his administration, domestic oil and natural gas production is up, while imports of foreign oil are down, Obama said.

"In the months ahead, we will continue to look for new ways to partner with the oil and gas industry to increase our energy security," Obama said.

Refineries in Houston and along the Texas Gulf Coast can handle heavy crude such as that extracted from Canadian tar sands ? the type of oil that would flow through the Keystone XL pipeline.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he was profoundly disappointed that Obama turned down the pipeline.

Sen. Kent Conrad, a Democrat, said he doesn't believe the Keystone XL is a dead project. He said the Obama administration did not have enough time to review the project, given the Republican-imposed timeline.

"It's not only the right thing, it's a very brave thing to do," McKibben said. "That's the Barack Obama I think people thought they were electing back in 2008."

___

Associated Press writers Dina Cappiello, Ben Feller and Laurie Kellman in Washington, Shannon McCaffrey in Warrenville, South Carolina, and Ramit Plushnick-Masti in Houston contributed to this story.

Follow Matthew Daly on Twitter: (at)MatthewDalyWDC

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-18-Oil%20Pipeline/id-a67e7ebe242445c28f4cbe7e2547638a

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Motorola Droid Razr Maxx hands-on (video)

Its showing wasn't as noteworthy as it was last year, but Motorola still at least brought a few new goodies to put on display. The latest major addition to Verizon's Droid Razr family, the Razr Maxx, was on hand, as were the white and purple variants of the original version. So what makes the $300 subsidized Maxx so different from its predecessor? Simply enough, the name is a direct reflection of the phone's battery life, as it sports a thicker (translating to a thickness of 8.99mm, a couple millimeters thicker than the original) 3,300 mAh juicepack that promises an out-of-this-world 21 hour talk time. Sadly, we didn't have 21 full hours to dedicate to testing this claim, but we did have enough time to get a few pictures and a video of the entire Droid Razr family together at last below the break.

Gallery: Moto RAZR family hands-on

Continue reading Motorola Droid Razr Maxx hands-on (video)

Motorola Droid Razr Maxx hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 15 Jan 2012 08:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Park official: Snowshoer rescued, in good shape

SEATTLE (AP) ? A 66-year-old snowshoer who had been missing on Mount Rainier since Saturday has been rescued after searchers traversed deep snow and snowshoed up a river valley to pull him from the icy remote backcountry, a national park spokeswoman said.

The team reached Yong Chun Kim on Monday afternoon but it took nine hours to bring him from the rugged terrain covered in deep snow to a road, spokeswoman Lee Taylor said late Monday.

She told the News Tribune newspaper of Tacoma, Wash., that he did not need to go to a hospital and instead was going home. Kim "seems to be in good shape and we're just thrilled to have been able to bring this search to such a successful conclusion," Taylor said.

Taylor said the experienced hiker from Tacoma, Wash., was alert, conscious and stable when he was found by a team of three searchers. He was reported missing on Saturday after he fell down a slope and became separated from a group he was leading in the Paradise area, a popular high-elevation destination on the mountain's southwest flank, about a 100-mile drive south from Seattle.

Snowshoers use specialized footgear that allows them to spread their weight over a larger area, which keeps them from sinking into deep snow and makes it possible to hike into snowy areas that would otherwise be inaccessible. Kim, who has been snowshoeing for a decade, was well equipped for a day trip but didn't have overnight gear.

Because Kim was the leader of his group, other snowshoers weren't able to accurately describe where he had slipped, Taylor said. Searchers had initially believed Kim fell in a different area, based on descriptions from the group, Taylor said.

Taylor said he was in a remote area with deep snow. Mount Rainier has seen temperatures in the teens, and eight inches of new snow fell in some places since Saturday. Wind-blown snow drifts were as high as 30 inches in some areas.

Bad weather prevented a helicopter rescue, so crews used a Sno-Cat snow vehicle to reach the area where Kim was. Then "searchers had to snowshoe up the river valley to reach him, load him into a kind of a litter that could be slid across the snow, sort of a sled, bring him back down and get him back into the Sno-Cat and bring the Sno-Cat back out to the road," Taylor said.

Kim's son, Malcom An, thanked authorities and the rescuers in a statement released through the National Park Service.

"A terrible situation that could have ended in tragedy, instead turned into another beautiful example of how Americans come together to help each other," he said.

Kim's sister-in-law, Sang Soon Tomyn, told The Associated Press that "as soon as we heard he was alive, my sister, his wife, praised God and said 'Hallelujah.' "We were so worried. We prayed every day."

She said her brother-in-law was a strong hiker, had food in his backpack and knew the area very well.

"He's a very strong person," she said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-17-Missing%20Snowshoer/id-eb616ebb4a074c0089a6eede6e41ce8d

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Monday, January 16, 2012

Natural gas price plunge aids families, businesses (AP)

NEW YORK ? The price of natural gas is plummeting at a pace that has caught even the experts off guard.

A 35 percent collapse in the futures price over the past year has been a boon to homeowners who use natural gas for heat and appliances and to manufacturers who power their factories and make chemicals and materials with it.

The country is flush with natural gas as a result of new drilling techniques that have enabled energy companies to tap vast supplies that were out of reach not so long ago. The country's natural gas surplus has been growing even as the country burns record amounts.

This winter's warm weather slowed the growth in demand, however, and created a glut. In the Northeast, December was the fourth warmest in the last 117 years. Winter supplies are 17 percent above their five-year average.

The natural gas futures price fell 13 percent last week, to $2.67 per 1,000 cubic feet. That's the lowest winter-time level in a decade.

"The market has been overwhelmed with gas," says Anthony Yuen, a commodities analyst at Citibank.

He and other analysts expect the price to average near $3 for all of 2012. If the weather stays mild, the price could even dip below $2, a level not seen since 2002.

Cheap natural gas is mainly a good thing for the economy:

? More than half of U.S. households use natural gas for heat, and a quarter of the nation's electricity is made from it. Falling heating and electric costs are offsetting the impact of high gasoline prices and enabling families and small businesses to spend on other things. Residential gas and electric customers are saving roughly $200 a year, according to a study by Navigant Consulting.

? For companies that make plastics, fertilizer and other chemicals derived from natural gas, the falling prices are nothing short of a windfall. The same goes for makers of products from steel to bricks to beer. All use a lot of natural gas to heat their furnaces. U.S. manufacturers are becoming more competitive globally as a result of the country's cheap natural gas, industry officials say.

Some industries aren't cheering, though.

With electricity prices falling, the profits of all electric power producers ? whether they rely on coal, nuclear or wind ? are shrinking.

Companies that drill solely for natural gas are earning less these days, too. That's prompting some to hunt instead for oil, whose price is near $100 a barrel.

Still, drillers aren't reducing natural gas production as much as they would have during previous periods of low prices. They've found ways to produce the fuel at much lower cost so they can be profitable at much lower prices. And, in many cases, natural gas is a byproduct of oil drilling, which is so profitable that companies are going after every barrel they can find.

Analysts say in some oil and gas fields, drillers could give the gas away and still be hugely profitable just from selling the oil.

The benefit of falling natural gas prices to homeowners is not as big as a major drop in oil and gasoline prices would provide. The average household's annual gasoline bill is about $4,000, roughly double the average annual gas and electric bill.

Also, the fuel cost is only half of a customer's bill. The rest is transmission and delivery charges, which don't change along with fuel prices. Homeowners are paying $10.18 per 1,000 cubic feet of gas on average, including transmission and delivery charges, according to the Energy Information Administration. Over a year, a customer will burn an average of 75,000 cubic feet, or about $760 worth.

The multi-year drop in natural gas prices caught most industry experts by surprise.

In the middle of the last decade, natural gas looked to be in short supply. Production in the U.S. was slowing, imports from Canada were rising and plans for importing liquefied natural gas from the Middle East and elsewhere were drawn up.

Natural gas futures hit nearly $15 in 2005. Chemical and metals manufacturers were shutting U.S. factories and moving overseas, where gas was abundant and cheaper. Farmers in need of fertilizer were turning to inexpensive imports from Canada, Trinidad and Asia.

But over the next few years, drillers perfected methods first tried in 1981 that now allow them to profitably extract gas trapped in shale formations ? layers of fine-grained rock that in some cases have trapped ancient organic matter that has cooked into oil and natural gas.

Engineers combined the ability to drill horizontally into shale with a technique called hydraulic fracturing. Millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals are pumped into wells to break rock and create escape routes for the gas. In doing so they unlocked natural gas deposits deep underground across the East, South and Midwest that are large enough to supply the U.S. for decades.

This eventually turned the shortage into a glut, and reversed the fortunes of some industries.

An ammonia plant owned by CF Industries in Donaldsville, La., that was shuttered by its former owner in 2004 is running again. Steel maker Nucor Corp. is building a factory in Louisiana; Shell Oil Co. is planning a petrochemical plant in Appalachia; and Dow Chemical is building a type of chemical feedstock plant it hasn't built in the U.S. since 1995.

"A whole slice of American industry is benefiting," says Steve Wilson, the CEO of CF Industries, which makes ammonia and other fertilizer ingredients. CF Industries, which is based in Deerfield, Ill., has seen its daily natural gas costs fall from $6 million to $2 million over the past few years. The company is planning to spend more than $1 billion expanding its U.S. plants.

While industrial customers are betting on low prices for years to come, things could change if demand increases sharply because of extreme weather or faster-than-expected economic growth, or if the U.S. begins exporting gas. It's also possible that natural gas drilling could be curtailed by environmental regulations designed to protect drinking water from hydraulic fracturing.

Legislators in New York and New Jersey have banned hydraulic fracturing temporarily, and the Environmental Protection Agency is studying it and may propose national regulations.

The most likely near-term scenario is that prices keep falling, according to Rusty Braziel, an analyst at Bentek Energy.

"This ain't the bottom," he says.

___(equals)

Jonathan Fahey can be reached at http://twitter.com/JonathanFahey.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/energy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120115/ap_on_bi_ge/us_natural_gas_plunge

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