I don’t know what America and Canada’s gas reserves are, and there are definite transportation issues, but wouldn’t more drilling mean that NATO allies could rely on us in the future for substantial natural gas relief supplies, a la Berlin Airlift?

Think of the scenario:

LNG tankers carrying gas from N. America would have to offload in Black Sea ports, escorted by a very major presence of U.S., British and French warships, dwarfing efforts by Russian naval vessels to harrass those shipments, and dramatizing the fact that Russia’s former “private sea” is something other navies can traverse with impunity.

Oh yes, to continue: other shipments would come through Baltic, German, Dutch and Polish ports. The Baltic and Polish offloadings would be an especially pointed reminder to Russia about their tenuous economic and military position.