The U.S. demand for natural gas, a cleaner-burning fossil fuel, is projected to rise over the next decade. The import supply of natural gas is tight, so the growing demand will likely intensify domestic production. Pressure to drill on U.S. public and private lands will continue to grow....

Economic theory gives no clear indication of the minimum number of producers necessary for a market to define competitive price-quantity equilibria which approximate price equal to marginal cost. Previous work and FERC Guidelines generally suggest that 6 to 10 generators may be workably...