As I get ready to throw eight dozen hotdogs and hamburgers on the grill, I can’t help but appreciate the ability to flip a couple switches, light the grill and spend time with family and friends – which, if it gets as hot as forecasted, might shift quickly inside to the air conditioned house. This is thanks to cheap and abundant energy sources like natural gas being produced throughout the country, which make our lives better every day.

Please take a quick minute to watch this video and see how many ways natural gas is used daily—a few uses may even surprise you.

So today, as we celebrate our nation’s independence, it gives me hope that the United States is progressing rapidly towards energy independence.  Thanks to natural gas, it’s not a pipe dream—pun intended—to think in a relatively short amount of time the United States will be able not only to supply our energy needs domestically, but potentially even export some of the surplus to our trading partners, which means improving our economy even more.

It’s also amazing to recognize how far we’ve come – not only from the founding of our country over 200 years ago, but even as early as the 1970s when we faced a severe energy crisis. Many so-called experts thought we would run out of natural gas in a few short years. Today, however, we know the supply will be around for generations to come, and we will likely be here to see our energy independence realized.

Looking ahead at the future, we must continue to develop shale responsibly. That’s how we’ll grow our economy, cut our reliance on foreign energy, and keep energy costs low for households here in Pennsylvania and across the country.

From everyone here at Energy In Depth, we thank all of our troops who continue to fight for our freedoms, all of the oil and natural gas workers bringing us closer to energy independence (including those working on this holiday), and we wish all of our readers a very happy July 4^th!