How much can the U.S. have a natural gas dependent economy?

The United States has an abundance of natural gas buried underneath its surface. So why is it still so dependent on foreign oil?

According to the Christian Science Monitor, natural gas is a key energy source to alleviate some of the dependence on foreign oil. But that's what proponents of solar energy, wind and coal said. The controversial process of hydraulic fracturing, coupled with volatility of domestic supplies has some concerned that placing all of the nation's dependence on natural gas might not be the best decision.

From the Christian Science Monitor:

Along with the environmental concerns, there's concern about whether natural gas's economic benefits will last. Local opposition to fracking could leave vast tracts of the shale gas undeveloped. New York State has already deemed its major watersheds off limits to drilling and put strict limits on where fracking can be done. Several towns have banned it all together.

In Pennsylvania, which just passed a statewide law regulating the practice, several towns have gone to court to block the statute primarily because it takes away local officials' authority to decide where drilling can take place.

There's also the mercurial law of supply and demand. Natural gas prices are notoriously volatile. The warm winter and generous supplies of natural gas from the current drilling boom have plunged prices to a 20-year low. That has made tapping the shale less profitable. The pace of drilling in Pennsylvania has already slowed, with rigs moving to more oil-rich fields. Will the jobs now vanish? If drilling slows too much, will prices spike again?

The article continued to say that worries also include leaning too far into natural gas usage, then becoming too dependent on that, too. Then, like foreign oil, the resource will be depleted, then the country will find itself in the same predicament as oil.