Dearly

Natural gas-hungry Japan is knocking on Alaska’s door, but the world’s third-largest economy won’t wait forever for liquefied North Slope gas — or pay dearly for it. The message to state lawmakers and the energy industry: hurry up with cost-competitive supply — or you’ll add even more years to the decades-long effort to commercialize those long-stymied gas reserves.

The government of Western Australia said Wednesday it will introduce regulations to mandate public disclosure of “any chemicals introduced into a well or formation” although tight and shale gas development in the region is seen as “a number of years away.”

One thing is clear from Katrina’s devastation of the energy industry: the nation’s energy infrastructure is too concentrated in one small geographic region and consumers are paying dearly for it, more than 100 businesses, industrial companies, and gas industry representatives told Congress Thursday in a letter.