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The benefits of developing America's natural gas resource base have been endorsed by Republicans and Democrats alike. For example, in January 2012, the Bipartisan Policy Center's Energy Project released a consensus report, Shale Gas: New Opportunities, New Challenges, on the potential for expanded U.S. shale gas production. Former Senators Trent Lott (R-MS) and Byron Dorgan (D-ND), who co-chair the Energy Project said: "New domestic natural gas supplies could have a transformative effect on U.S. energy policy, our economy and our energy security...It is critical that this resource be developed responsibly so that we can gain these benefits."

The National Petroleum Council's landmark 2011 report to the Secretary of Energy, Prudent Development, reached a similar conclusion. See the executive summary of the report.

After outlining his support for natural gas in the 2012 State of the Union address, President Obama discussed his vision for the transportation sector in this January speech in Las Vegas.

The campaign platform of Gov. Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, also stresses the importance of expanded natural gas production. See Romney's energy platform paper.

At the same time, Romney asserted that the Obama Administration's stated commitment to natural gas development is being undercut by "sending federal bureaucrats to take control" of hydrofracking and other production activities, which does not respect "states' proven ability to regulate fracking."