i was affiliated with the oil and natural gas industry since in the early '70s. our so-called oil shortage in '73, you know, but we had a compressed natural gas system that would go right into any automobile, be it a car or a truck, and you see 35 years ago, and here we are still without. but natural gas, you -- your engine lasts a whole lot longer than gasoline. it's cleaner burning. you have less fuel emissions. fewer -- much longer time in between tune-ups. it's 80% of the american population has access to natural gas. and out in the country we have

here we are still without the natural gas. your engine will last a whole lot longer than gasoline is cleaner burning -- than gasoline. it is cleaner burning. 80% of the american population has access to natural gas. out in the country, we have propane.

. >> susie: and natural gas prices tumble to the lowest level in a decade. how those rock-bottom prices are helping users and hurting producers. it's "nightly business report" for thursday, january 19. this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: captioning sponsored by wpbt >> tom: good evening and thanks for joining us. one huge earnings disappointment tonight from google. quarterly earnings came in well below wall street expectations, and, susie, the reaction was swift. >> susie: google shares tumbled 10% in after-hours trading on this rare earnings miss for the web giant. it earned $9.50 a share, almost a full dollar below estimates. revenues were also less than expected, coming in at just over $8 billion. but a trio of other big technology firms reported stronger than predicted results. microsoft earnings were two cents ahead of wall street estimates. profits at intel were three cents over what was expected. and ibm's earnings were almost a dime stronger than predicted. >> tom: so far

because natural gas is not $12 and more. an article in the paper yesterday says that now gas prices are down to $2.70. it is to give you an idea of what that means, that is $100 oil at $20 per barrel. in a matter six years. why? supply here. drilling here. yes, mr. president, drill, baby, drill works and reduces crisis and helps our economy. [applause] as a result of that, we need to actually expand our natural gas infrastructure. there are oil wells -- some gas comes off the oil wells because the mix in there -- but they fled the gas because there is not enough room in the pipelines to move the gas to market. we have 300 years of natural gas. so when the president says that we must move and spend billions of your tax dollars in all this new green energy, look at the president and say drill, baby, drill natural gas. we need to look at natural gas as not really an alternative to automotive fuel, but it is an alternative to a 18-wheelers and garbage trucks and buses and other fleet vehicles as a way of burning clean energy, aff

that we couldn't access before in an economic way, we've got a supply of natural gas under our feet that can last america nearly 100 years. nearly 100 years. now, when i say under our feet, i don't know that there's actually gas right here. i mean, in all of the united states. and developing it could power our cars and our homes and our factories in a cleaner and cheaper way. the experts believe it could support more than 600,000 jobs by the end of the decade. we, it turns out, are the saudi arabia of natural gas. we've got a lot of it. we've got a lot of it. now, removing that natural gas, obviously, has to be done carefully. and i know that there are families that are worried about the impact this could have on our environment and on the health of our communities, and i share that concern. so that's why i'm requiring for the first time ever that all companies drilling for gas on public lands disclose the chemicals they use. we want to make sure that is den properly and safely. america will develop this resource without putting the health and safety of our citizens at risk. but we'

it's 80% of the american population has access to natural gas. and out in the country we have propane. so, you know, compressed -- but here we go again. the united states wants to put all of their eggs in the same basket. everybody is pushing electric. well, that's not the way to go. like the fella from florida said. let's diversify. >> mr. zuchowski? >> yeah, it really is a very fair point. we really don't have a hybrid strategy. we don't really have an electric strategy. we have an alternative fuel strategy. and that includes looking at everything. some of those are new emerging technologies. some of those are technologies that have been around for a long, long time. and as we get a new advancements, things that were problematic in the past might work better now. so the technology advancements will take what might not have been widely available in the past and makes them more viable now. so i think everybody is looking at old technologies, at emerging technologies and trying to figure out what the best balance is. lots of different options out

get the natural gas out. to test it you want to turn it an eighth of a turn and turn it back to the way it it was. notice the little thing? that's going straight with the flow of the pipe that means it's open. if it's across that means you turned off the gas. the eighth of a turn you didn't turn it off you just moved it. these are in better shape. if you can get to this valve, safely, the building's collapsed on it you can't get to it you have to use the one in the street. pg and e put all the meters outside the houses in a lot of the neighborhoods, these are pretty easy to get to. they are easy to find. if you can find the little round circle in the sidewalk. if you look directly at the house you will find this meter and this shut off on the ground floor. in is a closeup of the shut off. in is the wrench i recommend you you use it for other things. they are cheap and they will work. this is great because you can use it somewhere else if you have to. an adjustable open end wrench. a diagram are off/on. shut o

first, let's get more of these natural gas vehicles on the road. let's get more of them on the road. the federal fleet of cars is leading by example. turns out the federal government has a lot of cars. we buy a lot of cars. so we've got to help not only the federal government but also local governments upgrade their fleet. if more of these brown trucks are going green, more city buses shout, too. -- should too. there's no reason why buses can't go in the same direction. second, let's offer new tax inseptemberatives to help companies buy more clean trucks like these. third, let's make sure all these new trucks that are running on natural gas have places to refuel. that's one of the biggest impediments. the technology we know how to make these trucks, but if they don't have a place to pull in and fill up, they've got problems. so we're going to keep working with the private sector to develop up to five natural gas corridors along our highways, these are highways that have natural gas fueling stations between cities just like the one that folks at u.p

system. >> president obama this week pushed for expanding natural gas production as a way to fuel economic right now, the gas industry generates more than 600,000 jobs. that could grow to 870,000 by 2015. pennsylvania is already at the center of a natural gas boom, but as tony guida reports, the drilling in one town may be damaging the water. >> reporter: in tiny dimock, pennsylvania, there is trouble just below the surface. methane in some of the water wells, enough for ignition at the tap, made famous by a scene from the documentary "gas land." dimock, population 1400, has become ground zero in a national battle over hydraulic fracturing, or fracking a controversial technique for extracting natural gas. >> spent christmas day looking for water, new year's day looking for water, this past sent looking for water. >> reporter: craig sautner and other resident have dealt with leaks wells. fests found sautner's water contains toxic levels of arsenic, barium, manganese and glycol compounds known to be common in drilling fluids. the cause-- fracking by the cabot oil and gas company according to

this is really historically cheap natural gas. >> reporter: school of business economists say part of the oversupply comes from a controversial source. >> a big part of that is this new technology, hydraulic fracking that brought gas from places we didn't expect. >> reporter: kit cause environmental damage ranging from contaminated water to minor earthquakes. >> i'd be willing to pay higher gas prices if we didn't have to use fracking. >> reporter: the price is 30% less than it was five years ago. reporting live consumer editor tom vacar, channel 2 news. >>> shares of zinga slipped 6% today after getting a neutral rating from analysts. the san francisco based online gaming company went public in mid december but a report released today is questioning the growth prospects for zynga. that sent the stock down 57 cents to 8.65 a share. one analyst says zyng a's cancellation rate is so high it would have to release several new hit games every quarter just to maintain its user base. >>> ebay has reported a sharp gain in 4th quarter earnings thanks mostly to its sale of skype. the san jose b

finally, thanks to the cold snap gripping much of the united states, we saw rallies today in natural gas and orange juice futures. nat gas reversed some of its recent losses, brought on by record high supplies and a mild winter, at least before this week. today, nat gas jumped more than 4%. the cold weather has dipped into florida, raising worries about the citrus crop. that sent o.j. futures up almost 3%, even though the damage has been described as isolated. and that's tonight's "market focus." >> tom: it's been more than three years since the federal government took control of fannie mae and freddie mac. the u.s. federal reserve thinks using the mortgage giants may help repair and stabilize the broken housing market, even if those actions cause fannie and freddie to lose more money in the short term. since falling into government conservatorship, the companies have cost taxpayers $151 billion. the federal reserve report to congress released today stopped short of making specific recommendations to fix fannie and freddie. modifications and money are two big forces shaping housing marke

natural gas is so low.ere a time that you've got to go back and just go and make long-term contracts with natural gas companies that are hurting for capital right now? >> that's something that we're looking at for -- we produce a lot of power through natural gas as the fuel, and we're getting ready to build a very large plant that will burn 250 decatherms a day. that's a lot of gas. gas low now. i don't believe it will stay this low for an extended period of time. so you've got to look at the volatility of the fuel mix for your customers. so hedging makes sense. >> speaking of hedging, tom, i look at this election and i've got to bring it up. if the republicans win i think your coal plants and you have considerable coal plants and you'll be able to stretch them out. if the democrats wib the cp arc will push you again. and what do you think as one of the best-run companies. it's basically a coin toss, how do you run a business knowing that in november the whole business can change? >> we made a decision that

my hometown doesn't have natural gas. i'd love to heat my home with natural gas. that's something we should look and see, at least see what federal regulations are standing in the way of making that hasm i'm sure there's something out there that's a roadblock that we could work on. the opportunities we have today in terms of the benefits from natural gas are significant. they span a lot of different areas. i'm sure there's things i haven't covered. i want to take this opportunity to thank you for hosting this forum where we're talking about the benefits, these are really benefits that every american can experience as a result of accessing a resource that god has blessed us with. mr. reed: i appreciate my colleague for joining us this evening down here from pennsylvania and i, if i could, continue this conversation with you, i'm sure you've done what i've done on numerous times, when i've traveled home, right through the heart of your district home to corning, just over the pennsylvania border, oftentimes i would take a few moments, get off the road and kind of go

dakota, texas, natural gas cheap. a fraction of the cost for btu of oil. if we want to help people in new england have not only homes and businesses that emit less pollutants into the air, and therefore would have cleaner air, and also have lower cost of energy, let's build out this natural gas system so that we can take advantage of that new, enormous source of american economic strength. >> speaker gingrich what exactly is an environmental solutions agency. i think a lot of people might not know or understand that why you want to expand the epa, and set up something that kind of looks like the epa? >> if you look at the epa's record, it is increasingly radical. it's increasingly imperieist. it doesn't cooperate, doesn't collaborate and doesn't take into account economics. they went down to find out what it was being cited for and they told them, frankly, we don't know, we can't find the records that led to this citation and we're not exactly sure the reference but it must be bad or we wouldn't have sent it out. in i

plan that took them a couple of years to produce on how to better oversee hydraulic fracturing natural gas drilling in the marcellus shale and the e.p.a. submitted comments for it last wednesday and among the things that they. one of the things that they focused on the most it seemed was how the state intends to take care of the massive amounts of waste water that hydraulic fracturing creates as you probably know in order to tap into the market shell which is a large deposit of natural gas that sits underneath much of new york drillers have to blast water mixed with sand and chemicals deep underground to loosen up the gas formations and that water has to go somewhere after it comes back out of the wells and what's happening in pennsylvania is that the waste water has been going to sewage treatment plants but the sewage treatment plants don't really have the technology to detect or certainly remove many of the chemicals that are in the wastewater the best they can really do is dilute it with regular sewage and then it goes right back out into bodies of drinking water. and in some areas like

and gas will to more easily give up its gets its the injection cracking blew it under relatively high pressure into in this case shale formations to fracture and reopen the practices that are naturally in the shale to release the gas fracking essentially increases the productivity of the well and makes for a better economic return on the investment and they do this by pumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of of water mixed with chemicals under pressure into the ground to bust up the underground underground formations to either a yes that's essentially correct except in this case for shale formations it's called high volume perhaps during any typical shale gas well like the one you're seeing on the screen right now in pennsylvania uses somewhere between five and eight million gallons of this record which as you said is mostly water but it contains certain chemicals that aid fracking process and protect the well while have there been other other reports of earthquakes or other side effects from fracking in anywhere else the sets. yes this most recent incident in ohio follows incidents very similar incidents in texas in arkansas in oklahoma and actually in england all with about the

we it turns out are the saudi arabia natural gas.orter: he said getting the goods has to be done in a way not to hurt the environment. >>shepard: what do republicans say about the alternative energy push? >>guest: they thing the focus led to bad decisions and not just the half billion bet the government lost on the solar panel maker solyndra but the decision to at least suspend the keystone xl pipeline carrying canadian oil shows a bias against fossil fuel and question the decision to have the navy make one of the largest clean energy riches in history at a time when the pentagon is being told to cut its budget. and they say the whole week's trip is basically more about politics than policy, and that may be the case, yet, how, maybe good politics the president's main message on this trip, that the middle class deserves a better deal certainly seems to getting a lot more political support. republicans call it class warfare and the politics of envy and the president today announced that microsoft founder bill gates signed on and he doe

a shortage of compressed natural gas or cng is paralyzing parts of the country's public transportation system. keeping cars off the roads and homes chilly. it's also prompting people to take to the streets. thousands protested monday in the capital islamabad. they criticized the government saying they cannot survive the winter without cng. some demonstrators set cars on fire and fought with police. a day earlier pakistan's government raised the price of compressed natural gas in response to a serious shortage. it also banned the use of cng for some public transportation. bus service is suspended in the capital. >>> the compressed natural gas shortage means some people can't heat their homes. it's also creating long lineups in front of cng stations. >> translator: i have been waiting here for half a day. i can't go to work. >> pakistan has faced power shortages recently, so the government recommended people to rely on compressed natural gas to keep their cars and heating systems running, but demand quickly outpaced supply. pakistan plans to develop more cng, but the country's worsening

>> these are natural gas vehicles.n fact, in pakistan, there are 2.7 million natural gas vehicles. >> wow. >> really? so it's not the gasoline that we know. it's natural gas and there's a natural gas shortage and that's what these cars run on. >> that is correct. this shortage has caused a lot of protests. even the station owners are protesting themselves saying hey, we can't keep up with the long hours that we have to stay open to provide gas for these drivers. >> could you imagine the outrage in the united states if they started telling people where and when they could get gas. >> ride your bike to work day. >>> the state of georgia has the second highest rate of childhood obesity in the country. so, a group put together a psa campaign that some think is a little bit controversial because of their direct message. >> mom, why am i fat? >> childhood obesity rates are rampant in america, but children's health care of georgia decided to do something about it with the direct messages. >> i don't like going to school becau

natural gas prices are at a decade low. that's good news for companies paying to power their businesses, but it's bad news for nat gas producers. bank of new york mellon has reached a settlement with the justice department. the upshot? the bank now has to tell customers how it decides exchange rates on foreign currency transactions. in october, a federal lawsuit accused the bank of offering "unfavorable" rates. the suit claimed the bank offered customers "above average" exchange rates and cashed in on the difference. >> tom: citigroup has a settlement of its own with a separate watchdog. industry regulator finra fined citi's global markets group $725,000 for failing to disclose conflicts of interest in analyst reports published between 2007 and 2010. those reports often are used by big and small investors to make investment decisions. citigroup says it began working on improving its disclosures before the finra inquiry and continues to do so. >> susie: you've probably been finding tax forms in your >> susie: you've probably

also not forget low natural gas prices. what's your take?> you have seen a good recovery, first quarter refiling margins, not too much to manage there, other than to believe we think you will see better results in the fourth quarter relative to the first quarter a lot of attention paid to the gas business. gas producer in the u.s., we expect them to continue to reinvest with a view toward the longer term. >> what about as we take a look at sort of the ripple effects of the numbers, gentlemen? let's say we see the numbers as you both, you know, forecast in terms of a little lower than what analysts are expecting. any other oil plays this may get impacted from exxon's quarter or the price of oil here? >> we continue to think that over the long term, you want to focus on owning assets that have long duration and politically secure locations such as the canadian oil sands, we favor sun core energy in that space. we are looking for upstream comes that can generate growth while returning cash to shareholders. our top pick is marathon oil, 6% growt

this is either a pg&e pipeline or calpine which is another natural gas provider in the area. there have been no reports of injuries. this is happening near the intersection of highway 160 and highway 12 near rio vista. we'll continue toably you more information on this natural -- we'll continue to bring you more information on this natural pipeline explosion. no injuries in the area. >>> well, tonight san francisco sheriff ross mirkarimi is charged with domestic violence. the district attorney announced this afternoon and added a restraining order. joe vazquez talked to the sheriff's moments ago. >> reporter: his attorney, not the sheriff himself. the sheriff spoke to reporters a little while ago but his attorney just came out of jail from the front entrance a short while ago to tell us what's going on. he says his client, the sheriff of san francisco county, is now being booked into that county jail. what does that mean? he is getting his mugshot taken, fingerprints, other assorted paperwork. he has to then pay $35,000 bail to get out of jail. he is charged with three misdem

what's true for natural gas is just as true for clean energy. in three years, our partnership with the private sector has already positioned america to be the world's leading manufacturer of high-tech batteries, because of federal investments, renewable energy use has nearly doubled. thousands of americans have jobs because of it. when brian ritterby was laid off from his job making furniture, he said he worried that at 55, no one would give him a second chance. but he found work at energetics, the wind turbine manufacturer in michigan. before the recession, the factory only made luxury yachts. today, it's hiring workers like bryan that said i'm proud to be working in the energy of the future. our experience with shale and natural gas show us the payoffs on these investments don't always come off right away, some technologies don't pan out. some companies fail. i will not walk away from the promise of clean energy. i will not walk away from workers like bryan. [ applause ] i will not seed the wind or solar or battery industry to china or germany

the development of natural gas will power trucks and factories that are cleaner and cheaper proving we't have to choose between our environment and our economy. [ applause ] >> by the way, it was public research dollars over the course of 30 years that helped develop the technology to extract all this natural gas out of shale rock. reminding that government supported is critical in helping business to get new energy ideas off the ground. [ applause ] >> what is true for natural gas is just as true for clean energy. in three years, our partnership with the private sector has already positioned america to be the world's leading manufacturer of high-tech batteries. because of federal investments, renewable energy has nearly doubled and thousands of americans have jobs because of it. when brian weatherby was laid off from his job making furniture, he worried that at 55 no one would give anymore a second chance. but he found work another energetics at wind turbine factory. before that they only made luxury yachts. today they are hiring workers like brian, who said i am proud to be working i