No college football this weekend, so we hitched up the T. Boone Express and headed over to Atlanta for a meeting with the National Conference of State Legislatures.
There was an article in the Los Angeles Times about the California Air Resources Board voting unanimously for a measure to “retrofit or replace older heavy-duty trucks starting in 2011.”
You know I have been talking about how important it is to move 18-wheelers off diesel. I want it done because such a huge percentage of that diesel fuel is imported. California wants to move 18-wheelers off diesel because of the air quality concerns.
Either way, same answer: Move 18-wheelers off diesel onto something else. What is the only fuel that will fit that bill? Natural gas.
You knew that already.
Seventy percent of all the oil used in America is transportation fuel. Thirty percent of all the oil used in America is used by those heavy-duty trucks to move goods, haul garbage, deliver building materials, and so forth.
Other states are going to start to do something about diesel after they see what California has done.
These State Legislators can 
take another step to move us off foreign oil. They can require that any new state vehicles – trucks, cars, pick-ups, whatever, have to run on natural gas. Most of those vehicles go back to their “barn” every night so, having a large infrastructure cost to refuel isn’t really a problem. They can all pull up to the pumps at the state garage and fill the CNG tanks.
One of them asked me what State Legislators can do. I didn’t ask them to pass any legislation. They’ll come to that by themselves.
I told them to get informed and communicate with their Members of Congress and Senators and make sure that they understand what the situation is and what can be done to fix it.
I asked the Legislators how many had heard of the Pickens Plan and almost every hand went up. We’ve told them about the problem. Now, we have to help them find a solution.
— Boone