Natural gas exploration and the infrastructure investment required to refine, transport and sell the product is one of the most anticipated and compelling investment opportunities there is today. In fact, the rush to stake claims and drill is outpacing the policies and infrastructure needed to better support sales and distribution of rapidly increasing supplies of natural gas in the United States as well as in some cases satisfy environmental and health standards.

In June, The Hamilton Project — an economic policy group launched in 2006 by the Brookings Institution — hosted the “New Directions for U.S. Energy Policy” forum at Stanford University to encourage solutions to these and other problems emerging in the United States as new technologies tap previously unreachable sources of natural gas and petroleum.

Forum partic