The most decisive change was in the electric power sector. King Coal had long been the dominant source for electric power, a position that had been bolstered by government policies in the 1970s and 1980s, which promoted coal as a secure domestic source of energy and restricted the use of natural gas for electric generation (because at that time, too, the country was thought to be running out of gas). In the 1990s, before shale, gas never accounted for more than 17 percent of generation. But, with the arrival of shale, gas was highly competitive on price, and environmental opposition had made
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