Natural gas back in favour with US power companies

摘要

Electric utilities in the United States are quietly shifting their sights from coal to natural gas as the lower-risk fuel while they wait for the nations carbon policy to be decided. Recent proposals to build coal-fired power plants have been sunk after hitting a wall of public and political opposition in Texas, Kansas and Florida. Investors and lenders - including some of Wall Street s leading investment banks - are increasingly worried about the imposition of greenhouse-gas regulations in the coming years. Add to this the rising prices of materials such as steel and concrete, which are driving up construction costs, and coal no longer looks like the safe investment it did just a few years ago.