Combined Cycle Nat Gas are very good sources of base load, higher efficiency than coal.
I guess I'm looking long term, and I'll disagree. Aside from having a strong desire to diversify sources, Natural Gas is commonly a byproduct of oil production. In stratified reservoirs, you can produce the gas off the oil, but the result of that high GOR later is that the oil itself is harder to produce in the future. Otherwise, the gas is used to push the oil to the surface, and both are produced together. (Gas lift).
With the current 'war' on 'fossil fuels', it is notable that liquid petroleum and products are in the crosshairs, from drilling/permitting moratoria to shutdown of pipeline projects.
What that means is that, in the not so distant future, the decline in production which occurs as reservoirs are depleted will not have been replaced with new production from wells drilled in the time that those restrictions were in effect. Most horizontal ("shale") gas wells follow a harmonic decline curve, and initial declines are often steep and immediate after flowback.
more on decline curvesAs such, Natural Gas will eventually become less plentiful, and the price will go up. In some areas, those increases in price will matter little, but for those reliant on natural Gas as a primary heating fuel, or reliant on electricity generated from the use of Natural Gas, the effects will be harmful.
We have plenty of coal, have more uses for fly ash and other byproducts of its use than ever before, and have the technology to burn it more cleanly than ever. One way or another, we'll be burning it again.