Mexico depends on US gas for hitting emissions targets (Examiner)

John Siciliano / Washington Examiner

Mexico is becoming increasingly dependent on U.S.-produced natural gas to keep its lights on and its emissions low, a Mexican official told U.S. energy regulators in Washington Thursday at an all-day meeting on energy security.

“Natural gas supply is important for our power mix,” Marcelino Madrigal of the Mexican Energy Regulatory Commission told the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. He explained that over 40 percent of Mexico's “energy mix” in 2016 came from natural gas, and much of that was in the form of U.S. imports.

U.S. natural gas is rapidly becoming important to Mexico's manufacturing industry, while helping to both control emissions and manage the power grid as more renewables are included in the country's electricity mix, Madrigal told FERC. Natural gas is seen as a necessary back-up for wind and solar power plants, which provide off-and-on power supplies as the wind blows and the sun shines.

Mexico has maintained support for remaining in the Paris climate change agreement even after President Trump decided to withdraw from the deal, and called it bad for the U.S. economy. The U.S. is experiencing a 25-year-low in carbon dioxide emissions due to increased use of natural gas from fracking in electricity production.

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