Rural GASIFICATION Plan

As I was driving through our rural area today my thoughts drifted to how can we expand the market for our bountiful supply of natural gas and it struck me.......Gasify our rural areas! Just as we did during the depression with electricity so we could today with gas. My old house spent it's first 42 years without electricity , finally being electrified in 1939 I have been told. We have had an oil furnace the last 40 yrs. Prior to that it was coal. I would gladly convert to gas heat if I could , but there is no gas service here and propane is too expensive.

Think about it. Electric company r.o.w. is everywhere and , as a utility , why could this not be shared with a gas company to supply millions or rural Americans with Natural Gas! The sites of defunct coal fired electric plants (we have one here in Lawrence County,PA) could be transformed into Gas distribution hubs. Like I said , the r.o.w. should be a non-issue.

Now this could be a stimulus package that would pay dividends to all involved! Tax breaks for installing gas furnaces would be paid back through the increased sale of NG and the taxes paid as a result.....Win Win for Us and Uncle Sam.

Increased demand for gas makes us all a winner. In my opinion , this would be a stimulus plan we can all believe in!

Views: 1655

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Trapper on February 10, 2013 at 2:58pm

Fang, I don't see it as gas competing with electric. If anything , it could be a partnership. Perhaps an excellent opportunity for the Electric Companies to get into the NG energy business. I was just thinking  Nat. gas would be an excellent alternative to heating oil for the furnace and propane for the cookstove. Better for the environment to burn NG than Diesel fuel too. Getting the arab monkey off our backs by heating our rural homes with American Natural Gas would be awesome. Folks living in towns and cities have enjoyed gas service for decades while us country folks have been surrounded by gas transmission lines and are unable to tap in. What a boon to the industry if this new , massive ,  consumer base could be tapped! Not to mention a better quality of life for us rural people.

The electric companies are already switching to NG vs. coal and closing coal fired plants all over. Our local coal fired power plant in West Pittsburg , Lawrence County, PA is closed now. With all the existing power line row in existence , half the battle is already won if these row were allowed to be used for NG pipeline installation.

Glad you like the idea. I think alot of others will too. Many details would have to be debated and worked through , I know , but I think it is an idea worthy of further discussion. Let's all write our Congressmen!

015334grltd9mPermalink Reply by 015334grltd9m on February 10, 2013 at 1:36pm

I'm in!

Permalink Reply by Jim on February 10, 2013 at 1:42pm

Gas service to the home is too expensive for rural areas.  The real solution, imo, is to get an LNG terminal on the east coast.  We're looking at sub $4 gas for quite a while.

Permalink Reply by Jim on February 11, 2013 at 1:24pm

The ROI just doesn't compute, hence propane for rural folks. 

Permalink Reply by craig on February 10, 2013 at 5:46pm

MarkWest was talking about running along an electric ROW in W. Pa. I believe someone mentioned they were turned down for some reason. They are staking out a different route, so maybe this is true in Pa?

Permalink Reply by Trapper on February 11, 2013 at 12:39am
I'm thinking exceptions would be made for
Utility use.......?
Permalink Reply by John OBrien, landowner advocate on February 15, 2013 at 10:34am

Why distribute the gas when you get it to the "defunct" coal fired plants?  How about just burning it there to make clean electricity, take over the local power lines, and then distribute the power.   Seems to me there would be less up-front cost this way.  The power lines are already here.  When our rural area started getting county water, the cost was very high due to the number of customers per mile of line.  I think running gas lines would be just as expensive.  But to supply a gas fired electric plant and use the power lines already there seems feasible. 

Permalink Reply by Trapper on February 15, 2013 at 11:01am
It would be nice to see closed coal fired plants converted thats for sure. My hope is for rural people to have access to gas for home use like cooking and heating. Most of us do not. I just paid 3.67 /gal. For #2 heating oil......that's insane! I would rather spend my money on locally produced n.g. than oil from who knows where. (Venezuela?)
Why not have gaslines buried beneath the overhead power lines? More utility without
The hassle of new r.o.w. Everyone has electric. How about everyone having equal
Access to gas?
Permalink Reply by mark ayers on February 15, 2013 at 11:25am

I share your frustration but there is another option if you have an oil fired boiler, if it's in good shape, you can convert the gun to an LP gun and keep the same furnace. A friend of mine just had it done by  a propane co. and it was a pretty straight forward job. I plan on doing my own over the summer. The price of LP is pretty good right now it's seems to be tied to all the drilling we are seeing.  You could keep your old gun and tanks in case something changed and go back to oil.  I've spoke to people paying as little as $1.45 a gal for LP.

For comparison  on price for btu

LP has 90,000btu's per gallon

oil has 130,000btu's per gallon 

  

Permalink Reply by Trapper on February 15, 2013 at 12:24pm
Thanks mark! I didn't know lp was getting so cheap. Even with the btu difference it is still a better deal. Something to think about. Tkanks again!
Permalink Reply by Vi Omlor on February 16, 2013 at 8:58am

I like the idea of providing natural gas to rural areas.  We too use fuel oil to heat our house.  Electricity is used for cooking and drying.  Our electric supplier, Penn Power, has taken to sending out monthly comparisons of our electricity use to that of  our neighbors.  I understand that this measure is to encourage or shame us into using less electricity.  It doesn't make sense to me.  Wouldn't the electric company want us to use more?  I guess not.  Obama has said we must start using less electricity.  (How using less electricity goes along with creating more jobs is beyond me but that is beside the point for this discussion).  At any rate, I could use a whole lot less electricity if I could use natural gas for drying clothes and cooking meals.  Another concern I have regarding electricity is the introduction of the "smart meter".  Although the smart meter is advocated because it is meant to cut down on electric use, there are those who advise that the meters will become ways of actually controlling our use of electricity.  I would like to be cut loose from such a large dependency upon electricity

RSS

© 2024   Created by Keith Mauck (Site Publisher).   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service