"My savings have grown as gasoline prices have risen."

T. Boone’s recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal about the Pickens Plan inspired this letter to the editor:

Regarding T. Boone Pickens’s “My Plan to Escape the Grip of Foreign Oil” (op-ed, July 9), I have been driving a Honda Civic natural-gas vehicle for over five years. I amaze inquirers when I add that I also fill up my tank at home with a refueling appliance in my garage. My savings have grown as gasoline prices have risen. It now looks like my decision to purchase a natural-gas vehicle (at the list price of a Honda Civic) and a refueling appliance (about $2,000) allowed me to escape the pain of the run-up in oil prices. I pay $60 a month more on my home gas bill for fueling my car. I’m not sure why this option is not offered by other car manufacturers, or why it’s not more widespread since many city vehicles, buses and taxis run on natural gas, and there are several public natural-gas refueling stations, enough to enable one to drive through our state, and I’m told throughout the country. It is possible for individuals to make choices that decrease demand for oil.

Cecilia Soriano 
Riverside, Calif.