I don't think the problem lies in the West. Nobody is going to burn natural gas in our own country when it can be exported at prices that internal buyers would

I don't think the problem lies in the West. Nobody is going to burn natural gas in our own country when it can be exported at prices that internal buyers would never to able to pay. By diverting it to our own market and subsidizing the price further the government would be losing insane amounts of money. But even building more coal-based power stations and connecting more houses to central heating would go a long way towards improving the air quality (since they use scrubbers to remove particulates from emissions, and the only thing you have to be afraid of are things like SO₂). Nobody seems willing to do even that, the situation keeps getting worse.