The editorial board of the Houston Chronicle is all for cleaner, cheaper, domestic natural gas, and it voiced its support for this fuel earlier this week in an editorial titled “Natural Gas Makes Natural Sense.”
One of the most notable aspects of the editorial is that the key elements of the Pickens Plan were singled out.
“It would focus first on the nation’s huge fleet of 18-wheeler trucks that move billions of dollars’ worth of goods across country. These would be converted from diesel fuel to natural gas through tax credits based on the vehicles’ weight, and other credits to support the construction of fueling stations. Because they would be handling fleet vehicles, these fueling stations are envisioned as large hubs along interstates, probably attached to existing fuel stops. The trucking industry consumes about 10 percent of the 20 million barrels of oil per day that the nation’s economy uses.”
With this in mind, the editors stressed the importance of Congress passing H.R. 1380:
“… it’s a matter of urgency for the Congress to move forward on the NAT GAS Act. The nation’s teetering economy can ill afford further postponement of action to put to use the nation’s clean, demonstrably abundant natural gas resources. The Pickens Plan, as it has come to be called, does that in a creative and well-thought-out way.
In addition to its lower cost and reduced emissions, putting the country’s abundant natural gas reserves to work would also have a powerful effect on job creation, an all-important point that the Chronicle‘s editors also pointed out:
“If implemented, the Pickens Plan would produce hundreds of thousands of jobs in all areas of the nation while reducing our dependence on foreign oil in a dramatic way.”
Read the complete post HERE.