US shale gas to heat British homes within five years

[dipsydoodle]

Nearly 2m homes in the UK will be heated by shale gas from the US within five years, under a deal agreed on Monday that is likely to be the first time major exports of the controversial energy source are used in the UK.

The US government has kept a tight rein on exports since the shale gas boom started more than five years ago. But the deal struck by energy company Centrica marks the start of a new era in gas use in the UK, because it opens up the market to cheap supplies from the US, as North Sea gas fields run out and pipelines to Europe remain expensive.

Shale gas exploitation has been blamed for environmental problems in the US, including water, ground and air pollution and leaks of methane.

Under the deal, Centrica will pay £10bn over 20 years for 89bn cubic feet of gas annually – enough to heat 1.8m homes – from Cheniere, one of the first US companies to receive clearance from the federal government to export shale gas in the form of LNG (liquefied natural gas). The first deliveries, by tanker, are expected in 2018.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/mar/25/us-shale-gas-british-homes-five-years

Its not as if any of us could refuse to use it. We have no control over origin of gas supply.

[Divernan]

1. Pennsylvania gets the air/water/ground pollution & no break on energy costs.

And GOP Governor Tom Corbett, who has sold out the state to Big Fracking interests and gutted our state's Department of Environmental Protection, gets the fat campaign checks and post-public office, extremely lucrative board appointments to Big Fracking energy companies.
I agree, no blame to UK citizens.

The reason the UK, or any govt., would choose to purchase from US based energy companies is that those corporations don't have to bear the costs of environmental regulations and oversights to protect the public health and welfare. For example, the toxic millions of gallons of water used and then dumped from fracking operations, was exempted from the requirements of the Clean Water Act. And the gas shipped abroad is most likely to come from Pennsylvania because we are the only state which does not impose an extraction tax on the Frackers to offset the damage done to our environment and infrastructure. Even Bush's Texas and Palin's Alaska make the Frackers pay something toward those costs. That's why Tom Corbett is referred to as The Frack Ho.