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— One natural resource the United States has a lot of is natural gas. So why not just start using it in place of oil, to reduce the nation's dependence on imported energy?
Curiosity about the potential of natural gas to become America's fuel of choice inspired one of the questions in this edition of "Ask AP," a weekly Q&A column where AP journalists respond to readers' questions about the news.
If you have your own news-related question that you'd like to see answered by an AP reporter or editor, send it to newsquestions@ap.org, with "Ask AP" in the subject line. And please include your full name and hometown so they can be published with your question.
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How are NFL players paid? Do they just get regular paychecks during the football season, or is their pay spread throughout the year? Do they get paid separately for preseason activities, training camps and postseason play, or is that all included in their overall salary?
What if they have incentive clauses in their contracts — is that money paid as it is earned, or in a lump sum at the end of the season?
Tom Jeffs
Edison, N.J.
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Typically, a player gets paid his whole annual salary during the 17 weeks that make up the regular season, according to the NFL. That doesn't cover what they do with the team before and after the season — they get separate compensation for those activities.
As for signing and other bonuses: They can be paid as a lump sum or spread out over multiple weeks, depending on the terms of a player's contract. And if an athlete earns incentive payments — say, by playing a certain number of games or achieving other goals specified in his contract — he usually has to wait until the season ends to cash in.
Barry Wilner
AP Football Writer
New York
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There was an op-ed piece in the Albuquerque Journal by Rep. Harry Teague and energy tycoon T. Boone Pickens that said the solution for our dependence on imported oil is natural gas, which is clean and plentiful enough in the U.S. to last 118 years.
What would it take for us to start using natural gas in place of oil? If we have so much natural gas, why haven't we been using it all along?
Judy Crane
Tijeras, N.M.
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We do use natural gas extensively. Half the country's homes are heated with gas. Industries that make steel, plastics and chemicals also count on gas. Utilities' reliance on gas to make electricity has gone up more than 50 percent over the past 10 years or so, with gas now used to make more than a fifth of the nation's electricity.
More energy-efficient homes, businesses and appliances, coupled with declining industrial consumption, has kept the use of natural gas at relatively flat levels recently. At the same time, new estimates of U.S. reserves are 35 percent higher than just two years ago, thanks to new technology that has allowed drillers to get gas from shale rock.
The American Clean Skies Foundation, which is backed by the natural gas industry, said a year ago that the U.S. has a 118-year supply of natural gas at 2007 production levels.
The use of gas as a transportation fuel has grown, but still makes up just a tiny part of overall consumption. Quite simply, promoters have not been able to get gas to catch on as a key transportation fuel beyond use in corporate fleets, city buses, trash collection trucks and other government vehicles.
Lack of refueling stations is one problem. Extremely volatile and unpredictable pricing is another. Still, there has been some progress in making equipment that could refuel natural gas vehicles at home.
Using gas as a transportation fuel is "clearly doable," said Chris McGill of the American Gas Association.
"It's not a technological issue. It's a choice issue."
Mark Williams
AP Energy Writer
Columbus, Ohio
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One of your readers sent you a question regarding fewer veterans, and you said there are 1.4 million people in the active-duty, all-volunteer Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force. What about the Coast Guard, also one of the armed services?
Lowell Gibbs
Albuquerque, N.M.
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The Coast Guard has 42,000 active-duty volunteers, agency spokesman Tony Russell says. That number has gone up slightly each year over the past few years, he says.
The Coast Guard, while a military service, is part of the Homeland Security Department. In times of war, the Coast Guard may be transferred to the Department of the Navy.
Eileen Sullivan
AP Homeland Security Writer
Washington
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Have questions of your own? Send them to newsquestions@ap.org.
