Weather disasters, billion dollar

Figure 1.1 Billion dollar U.S. weather disasters, 1980-2004—National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The U.S. has had five weather disasters costing more than a billion dollars this year. 

We ve already surpassed the total for billion-dollar weather disasters for all of 2010 (three), and... 

What does this spell for security of supply In the American gas market, security comes in the form of a large array of sellers and buyers transacting in highly liquid and competitive markets for both gas and gas transport. The American gas market did not always have supply security in gas - in living memory it saw gas shortages that cost Americans billions of dollars yearly in social costs (Pierce, 1988). But the market has learned to deal successfully with extreme winter weather, California energy crises and natural disasters. Europe, in contrast, worries about the potential dominance of Russia, Algeria or Norway as gas suppliers, despite the fact that none has much more than a 20 percent share of Europe s gas sales, either now or in the foreseeable future. 

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