After two years of aggressive exploration and production -- some would argue too aggressive and too productive -- natural gas looks like it is about to take out $3. (Some of it not being there yet had to do with the United States Natural Gas ETF (UNG), which Don Dion has covered magnificently.)

At that price, there is so much good that can happen in expanding margins of the many companies that use natural gas, mostly chemical companies such as Dow Chemical (DOW) and PPG Industries (PPG) but also any company involved in acquiring plastic or its derivatives, certainly glass makers such as Owens-Illinois (OI), which has skyrocketed, and, of course, utilities.

At that price, there is so much good that can happen in expanding margins of the many companies that use natural gas, mostly chemical companies such as Dow Chemical (DOW) and PPG Industries (PPG) but also any company involved in acquiring plastic or its derivatives, certainly glass makers such as Owens-Illinois (OI), which has skyrocketed, and, of course, utilities.

At that price, there is so much good that can happen in expanding margins of the many companies that use natural gas, mostly chemical companies such as Dow Chemical (DOW) and PPG Industries (PPG) but also any company involved in acquiring plastic or its derivatives, certainly glass makers such as Owens-Illinois (OI), which has skyrocketed, and, of course, utilities.

The implications for Southwestern Energy (SWN), Apache (APA), Anadarko Petroleum (APC), Chesapeake Energy (CHK), XTO Energy (XTO) and Devon Energy (DVN) are pretty clear. Without a mandate from Washington, these stocks will have to have a more realistic reflection of where natural gas is going. Today's decline is not enough to settle them, especially in light of storms that used to make them jump at least a little bit. The direction, of course, is lower.

The implications for Southwestern Energy (SWN), Apache (APA), Anadarko Petroleum (APC), Chesapeake Energy (CHK), XTO Energy (XTO) and Devon Energy (DVN) are pretty clear. Without a mandate from Washington, these stocks will have to have a more realistic reflection of where natural gas is going. Today's decline is not enough to settle them, especially in light of storms that used to make them jump at least a little bit. The direction, of course, is lower.

The implications for Southwestern Energy (SWN), Apache (APA), Anadarko Petroleum (APC), Chesapeake Energy (CHK), XTO Energy (XTO) and Devon Energy (DVN) are pretty clear. Without a mandate from Washington, these stocks will have to have a more realistic reflection of where natural gas is going. Today's decline is not enough to settle them, especially in light of storms that used to make them jump at least a little bit. The direction, of course, is lower.

The implications for Southwestern Energy (SWN), Apache (APA), Anadarko Petroleum (APC), Chesapeake Energy (CHK), XTO Energy (XTO) and Devon Energy (DVN) are pretty clear. Without a mandate from Washington, these stocks will have to have a more realistic reflection of where natural gas is going. Today's decline is not enough to settle them, especially in light of storms that used to make them jump at least a little bit. The direction, of course, is lower.