Texas redirects funding toward natural gas vehicles

T. Boone PickensImage via Wikipedia
Houston Chronicle:

Texas lawmakers showed some love this week for a bill to provide incentives for natural gas-fueled vehicles, but a similar bill at the federal level is beginning to get the cold shoulder.

The Texas Senate sent Gov. Rick Perry a bill on Thursday that will establish incentives for companies to buy natural gas-fueled vehicles and help fund fueling stations in the "Texas Triangle" linking Houston, San Antonio and Dallas-Fort Worth.

Senate Bill 20 would redirect funds from the existing Texas Emissions Reduction Program specifically toward vehicles that use natural gas. The fund replaces or retrofits heavy-duty construction equipment and other vehicles to reduce pollution.

Natural gas producers are pushing such measures across the country to expand the market for the fuel, which has been in a price slump in recent years due to ample domestic production as drillers have perfected techniques in prolific shale formations.

"This legislation will foster the development of a Texas Clean Transportation Triangle by increasing the number of natural gas refueling stations and replacing the heaviest fuel-hungry diesel trucks with natural gas-powered trucks, thus improving Texas' air quality and economy," said James Hackett, CEO of Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and chairman of America's Natural Gas Alliance.

But in Washington, the "Natural Gas Act" pushed by billionaire Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens has lost a few of its key Republican sponsors. It would provide a tax credit to cover as much as 80 percent of the cost of buying a natural gas vehicle.

...
Most of the opposition in Washington is one of form over substance. The form of the legislation cuts against the move to simplify the tax code. I would fund it by redirecting funds from the EPA to infrastructure for making the natural gas vehicles viable. Conversion to natural gas is a long term solution to importing less oil and is therefore a vital national security issue as well as one that dramatically improves our balance of trade. It would create jobs too.
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