Vision 2030: If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu

There is an old saying in public policy: If you are not at the table, you are on the menu. For the compressed gas industry, that is more than a clever turn of phrase. It is a warning – and an imperative.

The decisions made in legislative chambers and regulatory agencies have profound implications for how gases are produced, transported, stored, and used. They can influence the availability of critical products, the resilience of global supply chains, and the ability of our industry to support healthcare, food production, advanced manufacturing, energy, aerospace, national defence, and countless other essential sectors.

These decisions are often made with the best intentions. Legislators and regulators want to protect workers, communities, consumers, and the environment. Our industry shares those objectives. In fact, safety has been the foundation of the Compressed Gas Association’s (CGA’s) work for more than a century.

But well-intentioned policies can still produce unintended consequences, particularly when they are developed without a complete understanding of how our industry operates.

That is why engagement matters.

As we look to 2030 and beyond, CGA will continue developing the technical standards that define our industry while advancing public policies that recognise the critical role our products play in nearly every aspect of modern life.

Essential, even when invisible

Industrial, medical, food and specialty gases are frequently invisible to the public, both literally and figuratively. Most people do not think about the oxygen supplied to a hospital, the nitrogen used to preserve food, the carbon dioxide (CO2) supporting beverage and food-processing operations, or the helium needed for medical imaging, semiconductor manufacturing, scientific research, and aerospace applications.

They simply expect those products and services to be available.

Our industry makes modern life possible in ways that are not always obvious. Compressed gases support steelmaking, welding, electronics, pharmaceutical production, energy systems, laboratories, emergency response, and water treatment. They are used in the manufacture of the technologies that will define the next decade, including advanced semiconductors, clean-energy systems, quantum computing, and next-generation transportation.

Helium alone plays a critical role in medical technology, space exploration, scientific research, national defence, and high-tech manufacturing. Carbon dioxide is similarly misunderstood. It is not simply an emission to be reduced; commercially produced CO2 is an essential commodity used throughout food, beverage, healthcare, manufacturing, and infrastructure supply chains.

When policymakers see only one dimension of a product, they may not fully anticipate how a new restriction, permitting requirement, transportation rule, or environmental policy will affect its availability elsewhere.

Our responsibility is to make the entire picture visible.

Shortages reveal the connections

Recent supply disruptions have demonstrated how interconnected—and sometimes fragile – these systems can be.

The helium market provides a clear example. Global supply is geographically concentrated, and interruptions at a small number of production facilities can quickly reverberate through healthcare, semiconductor manufacturing, aerospace, and research. Qatar alone has recently represented nearly one-third of global helium supply, illustrating how a regional disruption can become a worldwide industrial concern.

Carbon dioxide markets face a different but equally complicated set of pressures. Merchant CO2 is often recovered as a byproduct of other industrial processes. When the economics, operations, or regulatory treatment of those underlying facilities change, CO2 production can decline, even as demand from food processors, beverage companies, healthcare providers, and other essential users continues to rise.

The US is now confronting the possibility of reduced merchant CO2 capacity as plant closures, feedstock constraints, and new pathways, like enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and sequestration, outpace the contribution of new facilities.

These shortages are not simply commercial inconveniences. They can affect hospital operations, food safety, agricultural production, manufacturing schedules, and the availability of consumer goods.

They also demonstrate why policymaking cannot occur in silos.

A policy decision focused on energy, emissions, trade, transportation, or land use may appear narrowly targeted. In practice, it may alter the economics of an entire industrial ecosystem. A rule affecting a feedstock facility may reduce the availability of a critical gas. A transportation requirement may slow emergency deliveries. A trade action may constrain access to specialised cylinders, valves, or raw materials. A permitting delay may prevent new capacity from coming online when it is needed most.

No single government office can be expected to see every downstream effect without input from the people who design, operate, and depend on these systems.

That is the value of having industry at the table.

Engagement is not opposition

Too often, government affairs are characterised as an effort to stop regulation. That is not – and should not be – the objective.

Responsible engagement means helping government develop practical policies, technically sound and capable of achieving their intended results. It means identifying risks before they become real-world problems. It means supplying data, explaining operational realities, proposing workable alternatives, and bringing technical experts into the conversation.

In many cases, industry standards and government regulations are complementary. Consensus standards capture decades of technical expertise and operational experience. They can provide regulators with established, regularly updated approaches to safety without requiring government to recreate highly specialised technical requirements from the ground up.

When government and industry collaborate effectively, the result is stronger policy, improved safety, greater compliance, and more resilient supply chains.

But that collaboration requires trust, and trust cannot be built only when a crisis occurs.

Industry must maintain consistent relationships with legislators, regulators, career staff, standards organisations, emergency responders, and other stakeholders. We must be available not only when a proposal creates concern, but also when policymakers need education, technical assistance, or a partner in solving a difficult problem.

Preparing for 2030

The road to 2030 will bring extraordinary opportunities for the compressed gas industry.

Demand will continue to grow across semiconductors, aerospace, healthcare, advanced manufacturing, hydrogen, carbon management, and other emerging technologies. Commercial space is one particularly striking example. Under its high-case scenario, the Federal Aviation Administration expects 4,288 commercial launches and re-entries between fiscal years 2026 and 2036, with annual operations increasing from 214 in FY2026 to 507 in FY2036. That growth is expected to support satellite deployment, crew and cargo transportation, in-orbit servicing and manufacturing, lunar development, space tourism, and other expanding missions.

Every one of those operations depends on a sophisticated ecosystem of industrial and specialty gases, cryogenic fluids, propulsion systems, storage vessels, valves, regulators, ground-support equipment, and rigorous safety practices. As launch activity accelerates, our industry will be called upon not only to provide the products that make these missions possible, but also to help develop the standards, infrastructure, and regulatory frameworks necessary to support that growth safely and reliably.

At the same time, governments will face pressure to strengthen supply chains, improve infrastructure, address environmental priorities, respond to geopolitical instability, and keep pace with rapid technological change.

Compressed gases will be central to each of these conversations.

Taking our seat

We should never assume that the essential nature of our products is universally understood.

We must explain it.

We should never assume that policymakers can anticipate every consequence of a proposed action.

We must demonstrate those consequences.

And we should never wait until a shortage, emergency, or regulatory conflict forces us into the conversation.

We must take our seat at the table early.

The goal is not to receive special treatment. It is to ensure informed treatment, to help government protect public interests without inadvertently undermining the products, infrastructure, and supply chains upon which the public depends.

By remaining engaged, constructive, and technically credible, the compressed gas industry can help shape policies that advance safety, strengthen resilience, encourage innovation, and preserve access to essential products.

For companies across the compressed gas value chain, the message is clear: engagement cannot be left to others. Through CGA membership, standards development, technical committees, and advocacy initiatives, companies have a direct opportunity to contribute their expertise, help educate policymakers, and strengthen the industry’s collective voice. The broader and more representative that participation is, the better positioned our industry will be to shape informed policies and avoid unintended consequences.

Because when the decisions that will define 2030 are being made, there are only two places an industry can be: at the table, helping to inform them – or on the menu, living with the consequences.