T. Boone Pickens today released the following statement in response to remarks by President Obama at the signing of the Presidential Memorandum on Fuel Efficiency Standards:
“The President’s statement indicates that he clearly understands the national security and economic threats associated with our escalating dependence on foreign oil. He has pledged to get America off Middle East oil in ten years, and his recognition of natural gas as a domestic transportation fuel, particularly in heavy duty fleet applications, is the only way we can meet that goal.
“Natural gas is the first part of the solution since it’s the only domestic resource available that can immediately replace foreign oil as a transportation fuel in heavy-duty trucks. Converting heavy-duty trucks and high-fuel use commercial fleet vehicles to natural gas can reduce our OPEC dependence now while we wait for technology to produce the vehicles of tomorrow. I’m encouraged by the President’s commitment to signing energy legislation by the end of this year—if he is successful in this effort, he will be the first president in 40 years to make good on a promise to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.”
Currently, there is bipartisan legislation in both the House and Senate that would advance the use of natural gas. H.R. 1835 and S. 1408 (The NAT GAS Act) and The American Power Act, unveiled last week, all contain language that would replace foreign oil/diesel/gasoline with cleaner, abundant domestic natural gas in America’s heavy duty fleets.