James Clad is a former deputy assistant secretary of defense and currently is a consultant for international energy companies. He spoke earlier this week at the Tampa Committee on Foreign Relations and to a government class at the University of Tampa. His topic - how the natural gas boom is changing energy policies in the U.S.
WUSF's Steve Newborn asks Clad how this will affect Florida - which gets most of its electricity generated by natural gas.
While the dropping price of natural gas is a boon to consumers - and a draw for overseas companies to relocate to the U.S. - he warns that the prices won't keep dropping forever. Those prices are also a factor in the closing of many coal-fired generators nationwide, and was one reason why Duke Energy decided not to reopen it's nuclear generator in Crystal River.
Clad also discusses the possibility that fracking - hydraulic fracturing that has been blamed for polluting underground water supplies in parts of the country - could be coming to Florida.
