 Decreasing public support is seen as one of the causes for the premature closure of many plants in the United States.The low price of natural gas in the US since 2008 has spurred construction of gas-fired power plants as an alternative to nuclear plants.In August 2011, the head of America's largest nuclear utility said that this was not the time to build new nuclear plants, not because of political opposition or the threat of cost overruns, but because of the low price of natural gas.