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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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Area 1002 was set aside for drilling decades ago.
Area 1002 is at the northwest corner of ANWR.
Here's a map:
http://www.silverbearcafe.com/private/6.08/anwr.html
Right next to Area 1002 is something called the Sourdough Oil Field. Sourdough is outside of ANWR and HAS ALREADY BEEN DRILLED. It has been proven to have a lot of oil.
The problem is that if they pump oil out of the Sourdough Oil Field, oil from ANWR may migrate to Sourdough.
And depending on the legal treatment of the "Rule of Capture", the oil companies could get sued. So they have been holding back.
If the President of the United States issued an Executive Order exempting pumping oil from the Sourdough Oil Field from any lawsuits regarding Rule of Capture and also mandating a revenue sharing with the State of Alaska, then oil could be pumped immediately. The President could also specify that angled or horizontal drilling would be permitted so that ANWR oil could be extracted without actually setting foot on ANWR.
The Governor of Alaska could start the ball rolling by issuing a similar Executive Order.
In addition, there is an existing all-weather highway (not an ice highway) 500 miles long from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay. It's the Dalton Highway. It would take 1800 truck loads of pipe to allow construction of a 60-mile long pipeline from Sourdough to Prudhoe Bay. That would take about two months.
[The existing 800 mile long Trans Alaska Pipeline has more than enough available capacity to transport the oil from Prudhoe Bay to the port of Valdez.]
And that's it.
Not ten years.
Two months ... to bring the ANWR oil on line without setting foot on ANWR.
And all it would take is an Executive Order from the President to pump from Sourdough.
They do need to build a pipeline to bring North Slope natural gas to the south 48. And that's a worthwhile project to discuss further.
But in the meanwhile ... 2 months to start the flow of ANWR oil.
http://www.pagaslease.com/forum/index.php?action=recent;start=30
... and mouse around for TONS more info on Marcellus Shale natural gas as well as Bakken shale, Barnett Shale, Haynes and other shale formations with large amounts of natural gas.
They require fraccing (fracturing) with one million to five million gallons of 10000 psi water in either vertical or horizontal drilling. And then they have to get rid of the water (although I have no idea why they can't reuse the water ... it gets salty from underground salt deposits).
It's turned into another gold rush. Rumors flying like crazy. The Chinese are going to use their trillion of dollar reserves and buy our natural gas companies.
Anyway, ... the posts are fabulous and you can spend hours learning about the industry.