U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and T. Boone Pickens have published an essay in the Salt Lake Tribune which calls for a national program to make natural gas a major transportation fuel in America through the adoption of the NAT GAS Act which is currently working its way through Congress.
Senator Hatch was an original co-sponsor of the bill which has bi-partisan support in both the Senate and the House. In the House there are currently 89 cosponsors from both sides of the aisle.
In the op-ed, Pickens and Hatch point out that, unlike some other natural resources, natural gas reserves are actually growing:
Every study of natural gas reserves indicates we have not just an abundance, but a super-abundance of natural gas in traditional fields and in shale deposits under Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Appalachia.
Domestic natural gas is cheaper than gasoline or diesel produced from imported oil. In September, 2009, we imported 357 million barrels of oil at a cost of $25 billion. Domestic natural gas is the only alternative energy source which can substitute for diesel to run 18-wheelers.
The op-ed states
Natural gas is much cleaner than gasoline and produces virtually no particulate emissions, unlike vehicles burning diesel. And unlike some other non-petroleum fuels, natural gas is a proven technology.
In fact, there are over 10 million natural gas vehicles (NGVs) in the world but “only 130,000 are in the United States. The NAT GAS Act would, in effect, jump start a major shift toward NGVs in the U.S.
The NAT GAS Act is the next step in a crucial effort to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil. We are pleased to have joined in a public-private partnership to support this important concept.
To read the entire essay in the Salt Lake City Tribune, click HERE.
— The Pickens Team