We have plenty of use for it, but nowhere to put the abundance.
Natural gas might as well be free in ND. Half a million homes is all of ND. For reference, I have a 104-year-old, drafty as hell ~2200 square foot home in Fargo, where I pay about $50/month for gas. I heat my home, my water and cook with natural gas. Our average winter temp is about 12 degrees F. I pay more for city garbage, sewage and other city services per month than I pay for gas.
The issue is how in the hell do you export it? You have to run billions of dollars of lines out, when gas is a fraction of the value as the oil. Also, the boom is a recent phenomena. This is going to take a long time before we build out the infrastructure.
Natural gas might as well be free in ND. Half a million homes is all of ND. For reference, I have a 104-year-old, drafty as hell ~2200 square foot home in Fargo, where I pay about $50/month for gas. I heat my home, my water and cook with natural gas. Our average winter temp is about 12 degrees F. I pay more for city garbage, sewage and other city services per month than I pay for gas.
The issue is how in the hell do you export it? You have to run billions of dollars of lines out, when gas is a fraction of the value as the oil. Also, the boom is a recent phenomena. This is going to take a long time before we build out the infrastructure.