NPR is running a report that as many as 20 states are now pressing America’s automakers to build a midsize car that can run on abundant, domestically produced natural gas.

More than 20 state governors are taking an unusual step to boost the natural gas vehicle industry. Independent of the federal government, they’re asking Detroit carmakers to build them a new kind of car: a midsize sedan that runs on compressed natural gas instead of gasoline.

The governors are hoping to boost demand for natural gas cars with their collective buying power. Combined, the states say they could ultimately buy thousands of CNG vehicles to replace their current vehicle fleets — if those cars were available.

Only a few kinds of vehicles currently run on compressed natural gas in the U.S., and only one, the CNG Honda Civic, is a passenger car. Detroit currently offers no natural gas-fueled passenger cars.

The radio network correctly notes that the federal government has already spent significant sums supporting the electric car industry. In contrast, however, Washington has done next to nothing to harness demand for vehicles that run on natural gas.

And while the federal government has spent billions in stimulus dollars to boost electric cars, little of those funds went to natural gas, says Kathryn Clay, executive director of the Drive Natural Gas Initiative, a consortium of natural gas producers and distributors.

“We peaked a little bit too late,” Clay says. When those federal funds were being divvied up, she says, the industry was still figuring out how much gas would become newly accessible due to fracking.

Now the industry knows how much may be available — and it’s a lot. Enough to last for a century, according to some analysts.

One of the most outspoken advocates for natural-gas powered vehicles is Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, whose state is a national leader in the production and use of this cleaner-burning fuel:

Natural gas emits “half the pollutants that come out of traditional gasoline,” Hickenlooper says. “It’s way less expensive — probably $2 per gallon equivalent less expensive right now — than burning regular gasoline. And it creates all the jobs here — we don’t [have to] send billions of dollars to foreign dictatorships.”

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