Much like the Ohio Valley, Israel is just beginning to realize the possibilities of tapping its vast natural gas reserves, Rep. David McKinley said.

McKinley, R-Wheeling, and Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Marietta, recently returned from a late-February fact-finding trip to Israel. Highlights of the trip included a tour of a new, state-of-the-art natural-gas fired power plant - spurred by the development of a massive natural gas field beneath the Mediterranean Sea - and a 30-minute conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

With the Ohio Valley in the epicenter of the Marcellus and Utica shale rush, McKinley said he saw plenty that reminded him of home during his overseas trip. But he said unlike America, Israeli electricity producers aren't operating under a cloud of uncertainty due to tightening - and, according to some, impossible to achieve - regulations on carbon emissions, as he learned during his conversation with Netanyahu.

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