My letter to the Financial Times, London re: the fallacious goal of self-sufficiency

In your report about Japanese scientists unlocking methane stored in ice, you state that "production costs for methane hydrate-derived gas...is nine times the US LNG benchmark...Japan typically pays about four times the rate..."

This is too high a price to pay for the dubious honor of becoming more energy self-sufficient. In fact, there is no honor at all in wasting the nation's capital for the fallacious mercantilist goal of self-sufficiency in anything.