The head of natural gas pipeline company Kinder Morgan targeted anti-fossil fuel crusaders Tuesday, arguing environmentalists oppose natural gas despite supporting fracking in the past.
Kinder Morgan CEO Steven Kean told an audience at the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s annual conference that policy makers need to better explain the benefits of natural gas, which include, he said, dramatic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
“It can’t be me. I’m a natural gas guy,” he told the audience of hundreds of energy executives and government officials. “When it comes to fighting global warming, we need more natural gas, not less,” Kean added.
“In the power sector, we are back to 1993 levels” on greenhouse gas emissions. “We’ve increased our generation by 25 percent while keeping that emissions level flat,” Kean continued.
He also suggested environmentalists should reconsider their opposition of natural gas development – after all, he said, there was a time in recent history when anti-fracking activists were proponents of natural gas.
“Maybe it’s just my perception, but earlier in my career I remember how supportive environmental groups were for natural gas,” Kean said. “That seems to have waned.”
