Natural gas, which had taken a backseat to numerous issues during the first three years of the Obama administration, may be poised to move toward the top of the agenda in the president’s State of the Union speech.

Earlier this month the White House credited the U.S. natural gas industry with helping to fuel recent gains in domestic manufacturing (see Daily GPI, Jan. 12). And in a report released last week, Obama’s jobs council called for the government to provide more access to oil, natural gas and coal on federal lands, something that the Obama administration had previously opposed (see Daily GPI, Jan. 18).

Obama will lay out “a blueprint for an America built to last,” supported by four pillars: domestic energy, American manufacturing, skills for American workers and American values, White House press secretary Jay Carney said Monday.

The president will call for a “new era for American energy,” which will include promoting natural gas, Reuters reported, and the speech may include a production target for natural gas, according to the Wall Street Journal. Despite coming just days after Obama denied the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline proposal on the recommendation of the U.S. State Department (see Daily GPI, Jan. 19), the State of the Union address is expected to tout the economic and energy security benefits of increased domestic oil and gas production.

One political pundit suggested that having paid his dues to his environmentalist supporters with the Keystone XL decision, Obama now can champion domestic fossil fuels, reminding green critics that he already has given them their dearest wish. It’s not a bad bargain for the fossil fuel industry. Keystone was a one-off project, that probably will reappear after the election. Support for domestic natural gas and oil could affect development all across the country; that is, if, going forward, that support is carried out through actions by the Department of Energy in its decisions on natural gas exports, the Interior Department in its leasing policy and the various federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, in their actions on hydraulic fracturing.

“We welcome this change of course,” said Jack Gerard, CEO of the American Petroleum Institute. “We’re hopeful that his commitment to energy development will be followed by changes in policy that would not only support the growth EIA envisions but take it to another level.

“The truth is, that the administration has sometimes paid lip service to more domestic energy development, including more oil and natural gas development…the administration has an opportunity to turn energy policy in a direction that could provide huge benefits to our economy. And if the President is sincere in this, our industry will work very hard with him to make it happen.”

Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) has reportedly said he will not attend the State of the Union address because of his differences with Obama on a series of policies, including the Keystone XL decision.

The speech may also include a call for more incentives for cleaner energy sources, but Obama isn’t likely to mention the now-bankrupt solar panel manufacturer Solyndra LLC (see Daily GPI, Sept. 2, 2011). That California-based company shut its operations at a Fremont, CA, plant and sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after being highlighted last year by the Obama administration for the success of its federal stimulus funding in the clean technology sector. Obama visited the Fremont plant in 2010. In 2009 the company was awarded a $535 million loan guarantee (see Power Market Today, March 23, 2009).

Coal will apparently see a diminished roll in Obama’s energy plan.

“As the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness concluded this month, America needs to be ‘all in’ on energy sources. But the Obama administration’s policies amount to being ‘all out’ on coal,” said American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity CEO Steve Miller.

Natural gas got only a passing mention as a clean fuel in Obama’s 2011 State of the Union speech (see Daily GPI, Jan. 27, 2011). In that speech Obama set a goal of a million electric vehicles by 2015, vowed to “eliminate billions of taxpayer dollars of oil subsidies,” and highlighted wind and solar power as clean fuels.

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