Increased access to U.S. resources, “including wilderness and national park areas, for exploration and production could save $300 billion in natural gas bills over 20 years,” an Energy Department official said Thursday.

Mark Maddox, principal deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Fossil Energy, advised that the coalbed methane in the Rockies, Alaska gas and LNG will be the primary drivers of new natural gas supplies for the United States. Beyond that, the nation will need all the energy supplies, plus conservation, that are available. “No one horse is going to pull this wagon up the hill,” Maddox said at a luncheon meeting of the Natural Gas Roundtable in Washington, DC.

“There is a pretty good case for the need for a comprehensive energy bill.” Maddox, however, refused to speculate on whether one would be approved.

Roundtable attendees, comprised mostly of gas industry lobbyists and trade press, speculated that the horse trading around the energy bill right now consisted of loading it up with pork barrel items in exchange for votes for the bill. “Anytime it looks like a big bill like this is going to pass, the congressmen rush to tack on items for their districts,” one roundtable member said.

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