EACH day, the United States loses more well-paying manufacturing jobs to overseas operations as a result of the natural gas crisis confronting the nation, and consumers are paying record-high levels for heating and cooling purposes.

Here in West Virginia, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that we lost 13,900 manufacturing jobs from 1999 to 2004. Today, there remain 63,000 jobs in the manufacturing sector, and 11,000 of those jobs are in the chemical industry. This represents a 25.2 percent loss since 1999. The question is how long will those jobs remain?

While natural gas volatility cannot be solely blamed, it certainly has had a very negative impact on the economy. The U.S. has the highest natural gas prices in the world, and with the nation's energy crisis worsening, one can only wonder how this will help create new jobs. The U.S. chemical industry's natural gas bill has increased by $10 billion over the past two years. Since 2000 the U.S. chemical industry has lost more than $40 billion and 90,000 jobs to overseas operations.

The U.S. Commerce Department reported on April 12, 2005, that the U.S. trade deficit has risen to an all-time high of $61 billion. The U.S. chemical industry posted a $4 billion deficit for 2004, while in the 1990s the industry posted the largest trade surpluses in the nation's history - more than $20 billion dollars.

How did we get in such a predicament? Simply put, our energy crisis stems from an imbalanced national energy policy. We are overly dependent on overseas sources of energy, and the U.S. Congress has blocked access to our own abundant sources of natural gas. Ironically, Congress also implemented policies that have forced a dramatic growth in natural gas consumption, leaving all of us with the very volatile situation of limited natural gas supply and high prices.

As bad as the natural gas crisis is today, it is expected to deepen, further widening the gap between supply and demand. Experts predict demand will far outpace supply by nearly 10 trillion cubic feet (TCF) in the future. Today the U.S. consumes roughly 22 TCF, and predictions are by 2025 demand will top 30 TCF.

Thankfully, there is an answer. Congress should recognize the enormity of the nation's natural gas crisis and change the direction our energy policies to make the nation more self-reliant. Congress should incorporate some key natural gas provisions in the omnibus energy legislation under consideration. The needed steps include:

* Curb consumption of natural gas by aggressively implementing a number of energy efficiency measures;

* Invest in development and implementation of new technologies, such as coal gasification;

* Improve the system for storing and transporting natural gas; and

* Create greater access to our own domestic sources of natural gas.

Every day that Congress fails to confront and address this crisis, more jobs will be lost to foreign operations, not only here in West Virginia, but in every state across this nation - and more residential consumers must choose between heat, food and medicine. Only Congress can solve these problems and put the long-term economic future of the nation back on track.

Fowler is chairman of the Chemical Industry Committee, a trade association that represents the chemical industry in West Virginia.

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