A new study by the INGAA Foundation on gas infrastructurerequirements warns that the government’s current environmentalgoals may not be reached if regulators and legislators don’t startmaking more of an effort to ensure the required gas infrastructurecan be built to serve a 30 Tcf market by 2010.

Although it’s costing generators quite a lot these days to burnnatural gas, INGAA said not using gas could mean the loss of about$1.2 billion a year to additional emissions controls on coal-firedplants. Furthermore, reliance on coal plants would pump much morecarbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Those are the conclusions of a new report by INGAA, titledImplications of Reduced Gas Use on Emissions from PowerGeneration. The report, prepared by Energy and EnvironmentalAnalysis Inc., is a follow-up on a January 1999 INGAA report thatoutlined the storage and infrastructure requirements to reach theU.S. Energy Information Administration’s projections of a record 30Tcf natural gas market by 2010.

“The initial report outlined the challenges of the 30 Tcfmarket, and this report shows us the consequences of not reachingthat goal,” said Cuba Wadlington, CEO of Williams Gas Pipeline andchairman of the Board Task Force on Environment for INGAA.

The initial report projected that 6.5 Tcf of new gas demandwould come from electric power generation. The new report says thatfailure to reach the projected level would increase emissions ofmercury and uncapped NOx emissions by 10%, and CO2 emissions by 4%because coal fired generation likely would be the replacement. Thereport costs $100 and can be ordered by calling (202) 216-5943.

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