Exporting natural gas would be more likely to displace coal both at home and abroad, resulting in a lower net carbon emissions overall.
By Arno Harris, contributor
FORTUNE — America is awash in natural gas. Prices are low and by some estimates we have a 100-year supply of it. Today we produce more than we use so why not export it? By doing so, natural gas could act as the driver of a comprehensive U.S. energy plan that would make sense in terms of our economy, national security and public health. Better yet, it could rally support from interest groups previously at odds. How? Embracing natural gas exports would not only take the slack out of the U.S. natural gas market, which would help producers, but also would enable renewable energy to replace natural gas as the backbone of America’s power-generation infrastructure. In other words, there is a clear alignment between renewable energy supporters and the oil and gas industry based on a shared interest in seeing natural gas prices rise a notch or two…