Forbes columnist Jude Clemente writes that Pennsylvania has quietly become the second-most vital natural gas state, yielding more than 20 percent of all U.S. natural gas.

In his article titled, “Pennsylvania as the new natural gas giant,” Clemente says that Pennsylvania’s natural gas production increased nearly 15 percent in 2018, bolstered by the rush in summer and early-fall to fill new capacity on Williams’ Atlantic Sunrise expansion.

“Even with booming production, Pennsylvania’s role as a gas giant continues to be constrained by a lack of pipelines that ship gas out of the state. As predicted a few years ago, there is now some $30-35 billion in pipelines coming to Appalachia. This is why the region is at the heart of EIA’s 1-2% projected annual increase for U.S. gas production for decades to come.”

He adds that the Appalachia gas boom continues to transform the U.S. pipeline network, with flows becoming more east to west and east to south. However, an increasing amount of natural gas is being delivered to consumers within the Commonwealth to meet energy demand.

“Gas is now 35% of Pennsylvania’s power generation, up from 23% in 2012. And why not? As demonstrated a few years ago, more gas has displaced coal and lowered Pennsylvania’s power sector CO2 emissions by 30%. Over the past decade, gas has doubled its share of Pennsylvania’s total power capacity. From 2016-2018, Pennsylvania saw some 16 new gas plants being built worth $15 billion.”

Read the full article here.