In the blizzard of finger pointing that is happening in the wake of the Texas Blackouts, the natural gas sector has been getting lots of blame. In this episode, Robert talks to John Harpole, the president of Denver-based gas broker Mercator Energy about the history of gas deregulation, ERCOT’s failure to heed the lessons from the 2011 blackouts, how power cuts by ERCOT reduced the flow of gas during last month’s blizzard, and why gas should be seen as a strategic fuel for the United States.