T. Boone Pickens's TV advertising blitz about the need to move our fossil fuel energy attention to our mammoth natural gas reserves and switch out of oil into natural gas makes a good point (plus a strong self-interest because Pickens owns vast natural gas reserves). Some buses and taxicabs already run on natural gas. The problem is that, in contrast to oil, there is virtually no natural gas infrastructure that can support such a sea change. Nevertheless, the attraction of a relatively abundant and clean fossil fuel (a fraction of the carbon emissions produced by oil) is compelling, and is already creating legal job and career opportunities across the country.

Why Gas is a Gas

First, there is a lot of it. This is true despite decades of "flaring off" natural gas from oil wells. Flaring has largely ceased. Natural gas is an extraordinarily valuable resource and a linchpin of any energy independence effort. There is a new awareness that it should not be wasted.

The U.S. has enough proven natural gas reserves (211 trillion cubic feet) to last us approximately 120 years. The volume of proven reserves is actually growing from year-to-year, thanks to new discoveries—a sharp contrast to shrinking global oil reserves. Proved U.S. natural gas reserves grew by almost 200 percent in just the last decade alone.

Second, new discoveries have both expanded the industry nationally and "democratized" it by attracting numerous smaller exploration companies to the industry. The Bakken Formation in the Dakotas and Montana (see the immediately preceding Future Interests blog) contains vast gas deposits, as does the Marcellus Formation, which stretches from Central and Western New York state southwest through Western Pennsylvania and Maryland and into West Virginia. Vast new discoveries in Northwest Louisiana (some estimates have this the fourth largest gas find in the world) are also being exploited.

Third, technological advances in extraction have made it possible to exploit our tremendous reserves and do it at a reasonable cost. It is now possible to extract gas economically from shale traps due to advances in hydraulic fracturing technology and horizontal drilling. It is also possible to bring gas up to the surface from deep below ground level.

Fourth, the industry knows it is on to something big, evidenced not only by increased exploration and drilling activity, but also be major additions to the natural gas pipeline network – 4,000 miles of new pipeline in 2008 in the lower 48 states, the largest increase in a decade.

The Need for Gas Lawyers

Attorneys who focus on the natural gas industry mirror oil lawyers' duties to a great extent. For example, they negotiate and document deals which, for natural gas, are very complex and eventuate in hundreds of transactions that contribute to bringing gas from its source to consuming homes and businesses. In addition, natural gas lawyers must also be concerned with the complexities of pricing and an array of complex government price regulations.

Attorneys play a central role in the exploration, development, transmission and distribution of natural gas. Specifically, they negotiate and draft agreements with land and mineral rights owners, pipeline companies and distributors. They monitor compliance with the vast array of federal and state statutes and regulations that impact the industry. They resolve disputes; advise their companies on a wide range of legal, business and tax issues.

Lawyers for natural gas companies work in in-house counsel offices, compliance offices, tax offices, and as "landmen" (see the Where the Jobs Are section of www.legalcareerweb.com for a description of the landman function). They can also be found in utilities' legal offices. Gas attorneys also work for outside law firms that represent natural gas companies and pipeline companies. They also work for the national, regional and state trade associations that represent the industry in Washington, DC and state capitals. Gas attorneys also work in the national government (Department of Energy, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and Department of Interior) and in state government fossil fuel regulatory agencies.

The demand for gas industry attorneys will inevitably expand as the fuel becomes more viable as an oil substitute. This will happen coterminous with the acquisition of additional mineral rights and land leases, and as the gas infrastructure develops and expands nationally.

The Infrastructure Problem

Natural gas as an important transportation fuel substitute will go nowhere without infrastructure. There are only a handful of natural gas filling stations, versus tens of thousands of gas stations. The Washington, DC area, for example, has only three natural gas filling stations serving a metropolitan area population of 5.5 million.

There is a chicken-and-egg quality to this. We need the infrastructure to (1) retool the auto industry to permit the building of natural gas automobiles, (2) encourage retrofitting of cars to run on natural gas, and (3) provide incentives to the private sector to pepper the map with natural gas filling stations. The auto industry is waiting for the infrastructure, while the infrastructure builders are waiting for the auto industry.

Breaking into the Industry

See the immediately preceding Future Interests blog on the oil industry for links to selected credentialing programs that encompass both oil and gas. It also helps to have a real estate background. Landmen, however, can be, and are, hired directly out of law school, based on their legal education alone, which is considered an advantage for a landman.

Membership organizations are excellent networking and information sources for anyone interested in an energy practice legal career. A number of them have local chapters around the country. Several organizations list jobs on their websites. Membership organizations are also superb resources for identifying and targeting specific employers. A selected list includes:

• Energy Bar Association
• Federal Bar Association—Environment, Energy & Natural Resources Section
• American Bar Association—Section of Environment, Energy & Resources 
• American Bar Association—Section of Public Utility, Communications and Transportation Law
• Association of Energy Services Professionals 
• Institute for Energy Law 
• Natural Resources Defense Council

For More Information

• Energy Law Journal Online
• Oil and Gas Journal
• American Gas Association
• Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation
• International Gas Union
• National Association of State Energy Officials
• Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
• U.S. Department of Energy
• U.S. Department of Interior

Next: Careers in the Sustainable World III – Clean??? Coal