The New Year is in full swing and while many U.S. citizens said goodbye and good riddance to 2008, I can’t help but wonder what 2009 has in store for mineral and royalty owners and the natural gas industry in general. Last year brought new fortunes of “Jed Clampett” proportions to mineral owners in the Haynesville Shale of Louisiana and parts of East Texas. Mineral owners in the Marcellus and Barnett Shales were also taking large bonus monies to the bank as landmen scoured the rich formations and scooped up as much property as they could get their hands on. Oil and gas producers cheered with every new rig and dollar signs flashed everywhere you could think of the phrase “unconventional shale play.”

Then, nearly as quickly as mineral owners were cashing in their bonus checks demand plummeted and Judy Holliday started crooning The Party’s Over. Prices fell and oil and gas companies were left with a glut of production. Mineral owners who were holding out for bigger deals may be stood-up for the time being.

But for how long?

Even oil and gas industry experts around the country who’ve seen the highs and lows of supply and demand roller coaster for decades are perplexed at what the future has in store. With the new administration a day away from taking office, many industry experts are hoping that Obama and his team realize the potential of the glut of natural gas that exists in our country. Perhaps it’s time to cramp on coal’s style and leave the earth a little cleaner with more natural gas use. It doesn’t look like we’ll be running out of it anytime soon. One consulting firm estimated that America’s potential gas resources may total 2,200 trillion cubic feet (Bryce, Energy Tribune).

Perhaps it’s time for a brainstorming session with the new guys in the Oval Office?

With the proposed bailouts for the American automobile industry making headlines, I can’t help but think about the times when the oil and gas industry faced similar dire straits. The 1980s oil glut was a surplus of crude oil caused by falling demand following the 1973 and 1979 energy crises. The world price of oil, which had peaked in 1979 at more than $35 per barrel, collapsed in 1986 from $27 to below $10. Tens of thousands of employees lost their jobs due to the drop in demand yet in spite of the six-year dramatic decline, oil and gas companies never received government assistance to bail them out.

So what will the “bail out” really do for the automobile industry in the long run? Is a Band-Aid really the proper remedy when it would take a tourniquet to stop the bleeding? The energy industry overcame its malady without a handout and it might be the proper medicine for the automobile industry to do the same. Think about the airline industry for a moment. I don’t want to single any one company out, but I bet we can all list a few who have filed for Chapter 11. The consequences didn’t mean consumers couldn’t grab a flight to Boston or Mexico, but forced the airlines to reorganize their operations.

And let me add that while the United States and the rest of the world is extremely dependent on oil and natural gas production, we could all live without the next Hummer H2.

Now I’m not an investment banker, economist or Nostradamus, but taking a lesson from our history leads me to believe that companies have been able to come out on top without Washington stepping in. And on a macro level, what does this teach us as an American people? I know too many who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own and I don’t see the government stepping in with severance packages.

Isn’t America based on the foundation that if you work hard you will succeed? What ever happened to “teach a man to fish?” I have yet to hear of the wise adage that states “grant GM multi-billions when they cry Uncle.”