Domestic natural gas is only “cheap” because the government is allowing frackers to extract resources from the commons without paying for the costs of the problems they cause.

“Cheap” in quotes because anyone who thinks it is cheap is not accounting for some significant hidden costs.

The tragedy of the commons applies here. If you are not familiar with that, it’s worth looking up. I’ll assume you are.

Government can have a role in mitigating the tragedy of the commons by having the industry pay for the problems they create.

Or government can look the other way, which is a defacto subsidy.

We didn’t used to be a net exporter. Part of the reason fracking even got the traction it has now is that government was alarmed by how much money they were paying for the oil wars, and got desperate for any way to stop the bleeding.