Letter: U.S. should use its gas resources
Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, on May 5, 2014. Credit: Getty Images / Mikahil Klimentyev
Calling it an "epochal event," Russian President Vladimir Putin made what seemed like a desperate move to sign a 30-year, $400-billion natural gas deal with China ["Big deal to buy Russian gas," News, May 22].
Donald Trump tweeted that this deal gives Russia "plenty of ammo to continue laughing in U.S. face" after we levied sanctions on them for invading the Ukraine.
Given the unholy alliance between these two anti-American pseudo-superpowers, what could the United States do to counter this move? Do we have our own epochal event?
It's in the best economic and national security interests of the United States to fully develop our energy potential. This isn't going to happen under the Obama administration. But the next president, preferably a pro-growth GOP candidate, could open the energy spigots of this country full throttle. He or she could allow fracking, offshore drilling, the Keystone XL pipeline, etc. The United States would almost immediately propel itself to the world's largest energy producer.
If we were to flood the world market with cheap energy, that would undercut the price of natural gas that the Russians sell to the Chinese, forcing Russia to lower prices and possibly even incur a loss while delivering natural gas to the Chinese. What better way to get even with Russia?
Eugene R. Dunn, Medford
