The editorial board of The New York Times scolded the current Congress for its “shameful” record on energy and the environment, but it held out hope that some critical legislation could still be passed during the remaining days and weeks of the lame duck session.
Their top suggestion for our elected officials? The bipartisan proposals that are the centerpiece of the Pickens Plan:
“One bill worth pressing is a creative measure with bipartisan support in both houses that would ramp up the use of natural gas in heavy-duty trucks and create a pilot program for building a network of recharging stations for electric vehicles.”
As The Times points out, Majority Leader Harry Reid’s Promoting Natural Gas and Electric Vehicles Act (S. 3815) would spend $5.5 billion over 10 years in tax credits and other incentives to encourage manufacturers to produce natural gas vehicles and companies and consumers to buy them. The bill would also encourage research and development on electric cars.
Why are the newspaper’s editors so bullish on this bill? Because it is the first step towards developing an energy plan for America, one that will decrease our dependence on foreign oil by getting this country to rely on its own resources.
“Converting trucks to natural gas could save 1.2 million barrels of oil by 2035.”
Will passing this bill solve decades of inaction by our country’s leadership on developing a comprehensive energy plan for America? The editors at The Times would be among the first to point out that it won’t. But as the editorial board noted, passage would definitely move the U.S. in the right direction:
“[T]here is time in the remaining weeks of the lame-duck session to take small but still important steps.”
Read the entire editorial HERE.