WSTN’s “Rocky Mountain Gas Roadmap & Implementation Playbook” is driving consistent headlines in energy media since its release on Oct. 20, with the group’s leadership being interviewed and featured in natural gas industry publications read by top executives. Separate reports featuring the playbook appeared in Natural Gas Intelligence and Energy Intelligence.
WSTN Chairman Jason Sandel and WSTN President Andrew Browning discussed the “detailed plan to unleash Rocky Mountain supply to growing demand centers domestically and abroad” in interviews that appeared in an article by Washington Bureau Chief Mark Davidson in Energy Intelligence’s Natural Gas Week (Paywalled) entitled “Coalition Unveils Road Map to Liquefy, Export Rockies Gas.”
The story discussed the playbook in depth and highlighted that the Governors of Wyoming and New Mexico debuted the report at a trade summit with Japan’s ambassador to the U.S., while flagging that several export ventures on the US West Coast “have failed due to public and political resistance.”
“We are looking to press the reset button,” Andrew Browning, president of the Western States and Tribal Nations (WSTN) energy initiative, told Energy Intelligence. “We think we have a better story to tell. A lot has changed in the past decade.”
Sandel added context to the tools in the playbook and what it is structured to do.
“The report contains actionable steps for business and political leaders so we can have shovels in the ground in short order,” WSTN Chairman Jason Sandel told Energy Intelligence. “It poses the questions of who’s going to produce the gas and subscribe to capacity, and who are the midstream companies prepared to put pipe in the ground. It’s also about finding the right export facility and [pursuing] those end-users in Asia hungry for gas from North America’s West Coast.”
Natural Gas Intelligence’s Mexico Bureau Chief Christopher took an expansive look at the playbook (registration required) and quoted several WSTN voices, including Browning, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, and Jicarilla Apache Nation President Adrian Notsinneh.
“The report clearly shows the Rockies region can support at least two LNG export facilities as well as significant domestic demand growth for a 50-plus year period,” WSTN President Andrew Browning told NGI. “It also demonstrates that there is ample room for more U.S. LNG given the growth in Asian markets.
Lenton’s story provided counterpoint from an NGI analyst describing some of the challenges Rockies gas faces in getting to market, while providing details about what the playbook proposes to surmount those. It also listed the funders and and featured comments from WSTN’s playbook launch:
Jicarilla Apache Nation President Adrian Notsinneh said the playbook would “create future opportunities for our people to chart their own course — the tribal self-determination we strive toward. Our nation and our neighboring states are proof that natural gas production and environmental stewardship are not only compatible and possible, but essential to meeting the energy needs of modern economies here and overseas.”