In an Op-Ed published on the influential political website Politico.com, T. Boone Pickens and Gov. John Hickenlooper (D-Colorado) jointly call for
“Unleashing the spirit of American know-how and ingenuity and developing domestic energy resources like natural gas are part of a broader strategy we desperately need to get our economy back on track.”
They point out that at current prices, we could spend $500 billion on importing oil in just one year which would “affect food and transportation costs, jeopardize jobs and put our fragile economic recovery at risk.”
In the essay they state:
Natural gas is an excellent resource for power generation, and is the only substitute for diesel in powering heavy-duty trucks. There are eight million 18-wheelers in the U.S., and converting this fleet to domestic natural gas could cut in half our dependence on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
While calling for the drilling, recovery, and shipment of natural gas should be “held to a high-standard to protect our environment,” they call for Congress to act quickly and pass the NAT GAS Act (H.R. 1380) which, they say, is:
“Bipartisan legislation, which was just introduced, focuses on jumpstarting the use of natural gas fuel in our country’s transportation sector by offering tax credits to encourage the production and purchase of natural gas vehicles.
To read the entire op-ed in Political, click HERE.
— The Pickens Team