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Natural gas is likely to play an ever more important role in U.S. energy production. Between 1997 and 2007, for example, the amount of natural gas used in the production of electricity increased by more than 50 percent, and today, natural gas generates 22 percent of all electricity in the United States. A 25 percent reduction in industrial use has offset this increase, keeping consumption flat during this period. At the same time, 55 percent of America's 109 million households use natural gas to heat their homes.
As with oil, the price of natural gas has gone up significantly in the past few years. Today, it is triple what it was in 2000, going from $2.66 per thousand cubic feet in March 2000 to $8.29 in March 2008. Today's price, however, is still well below the 2005 peak, when damage caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita drove the price to $10.33. 
Sustained high prices along with new technologies have led to a striking increase in production after a decade of stagnation. According to the Energy Information Administration, natural gas production has grown 9 percent in the last 15 months as companies make use of previously unavailable or unprofitable resources. 
Geographically, the Dallas/Fort Worth area has become a hotspot for what is called horizontal drilling, a process by which a well is drilled vertically then makes a 90 degree turn. This allows firms to harvest natural gas with minimal surface disturbance. Companies are drilling on a large scale in the suburbs surrounding Fort Worth, within the Dallas/Forth Worth Airport, and says the EIA, the "drilling rigs... are headed toward downtown." This phenomenon is not unique to Fort Worth. Recently The New York Times ran an article about the growth of natural gas drilling in the Catskill region of New York State. Though there are many concerns, the article points out that the profitability of the new projects will likely overcome any obstacle. The Times goes on to say that the price of a mineral rights lease for an acre of land has grown in some areas to $2,500 from about $200. One result of the growth in production is that net U.S. exports have increased five-fold since 1997, from 157 billion cubic feet in 1997 to 822 billion in 2007. Today, net imports make up only 17 percent of total natural gas consumption. By comparison, more than 60 percent of oil is imported. Though at first it may seem odd to be importing and exporting, geographical proximity to our largest natural gas importer, Canada, can make those exports more readily available than domestic production.
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