Our Guiding Principles
Rural Economic Development
Rural communities with natural gas production experience positive, direct economic impacts from resource development via jobs and labor income. Additionally, as a result of higher household incomes, these areas will gain economically from increased consumer spending.
For the U.S., LNG exports could add as much as $92.7 billion in annual GDP through 2050 and as much as $3.26 trillion in cumulative benefits across the same period. LNG exports could help sustain as many as 432,900 U.S. jobs annually through that time span, and many of those jobs will be located in the rural Western communities where the natural gas is produced.
Tribal Self Determination
Many tribal nations located in the Western United States seek economic prosperity and tribal self-determination through natural gas development. Through the construction of natural gas pipelines and North American West Coast LNG terminals, Native American Tribal Nations and the First Nations of Canada can gain access to new energy markets and increase tribal incomes. That in turn aids ongoing economic development efforts and the provision of essential services for their people. These tribes also promote environmental stewardship, through their longstanding role as North America’s original guardians of the environment.
Through the construction of natural gas pipelines and North American West Coast LNG terminals, Native American Tribal Nations and the First Nations of Canada can gain access to new energy markets and increase tribal incomes. That in turn aids ongoing economic development efforts and the provision of essential services for their people. These tribes also promote environmental stewardship, through their longstanding role as North America’s original guardians of the environment.
Climate Change and the Pursuit of Lower Emissions
The challenges around the current trajectory of increasing CO2 emissions in the earth’s atmosphere are real.
WSTN is firmly committed to the proposition that America’s new role as a global leader in LNG exports enables a similar shift in electricity fuels and carbon emissions worldwide. The evidence demonstrates that the U.S. and its North American allies can export the American recipe for success to other nations with LNG, rooted in the fact that the environment’s health is a global – not national – issue.
American LNG exports are critical to quickly lower emissions in hard-to-decarbonize sectors now fueled by higher-emitting energy sources. Eighty percent of global energy demand through 2050 will occur in emerging and developing economies. Any effective climate policy will prioritize evidence over slogans and solely nation-based targets, and will recognize that lower-carbon North American energy exports are critical to helping these markets achieve sustainable growth – while providing economic and environmental benefits at home.
WSTN’s 2021 Rockies-natural gas focused study found that LNG exported from the North American West Coast to China, India, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan would create net life cycle emissions reductions of between 42%-55% if used to replace coal-fired power generation.
The report accounted for all greenhouse gas emissions impacts of Rockies-sourced gas, starting with production from the well and ending with the emissions from electricity transmission and distribution in the target nations.
Making Net Zero a Reality
WSTN recognizes that natural gas use without carbon capture, usage and sequestration (CCUS) contributes to global CO2 emissions overall.
WSTN and its members agree that reducing methane and CO2 emissions at every step of the LNG life cycle is essential and will ensure natural gas maintains a constructive role in the transition to a lower carbon world.
Evidence shows that the private sector is developing innovative technological solutions, and WSTN believes that collaborative public-private partnerships between governments and companies that prioritize innovation are the fastest route to lasting, real emissions reductions.
WSTN supports the advancement of hydrogen technologies and believes a robust LNG trade will accelerate the emergence of a hydrogen economy. We believe it is most likely that hydrogen and natural gas will co-exist and evolve together, as existing infrastructure facilitates the development of renewable hydrogen technologies and delivery systems over the next several decades.
WSTN is agnostic about how hydrogen is made as long as it meets emissions reduction criteria. We believe competition always produces the strongest, most economically sound result.
However, blue hydrogen production that leverages existing natural gas infrastructure, coupled with CCUS, will give critical mass to the burgeoning hydrogen economy, and unlock innovations that will lower the costs of green and other clean hydrogen processes to financially viable levels.
WSTN believes that using existing natural gas infrastructure is the fastest path to deployment of clean hydrogen technologies at scale, and will advance the Paris Agreement while ensuring a reliable, affordable and sustainable energy supply for society.