The domestic natural gas industry is growing by leaps and bounds.  Now, Wall Street is starting to predict a U.S. manufacturing surge spurred by cheaper natural gas.

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Cheap and abundant are the operative words for U.S. natural gas right now.  Deposits such as the Pennsylvania/New York Marcellus shale are yielding a lot of inexpensive energy.  New Jersey Natural Gas Chief Operating Officer Kathy Ellis says the United States overtook Russia in the year 2009 as the number one producer of natural gas in the world.

A recent Price-Waterhouse report estimated the U.S. chemical industry could see a 200,000 increase in jobs as that one industry shifts to natural gas from more expensive energy sources.

Natural gas prices rose to very high levels back in the late 1990's.  The increases prompted many domestic manufacturers to take their operations overseas to access cheaper rates.  But these abundant and new gas recovery methods are making it far more cost efficient for at least some of those manufacturers to, "come home," and bring their jobs back with them.

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