A Pickens-Koch fight over natural gas as fuel?

Politico:

An increasingly bitter personal rift between billionaires T. Boone Pickens and Charles and David Koch has morphed into an expensive political battle that is testing the commitment of House Republicans to the tea party principles many of them have publicly embraced.

The fight centers on legislation backed by Pickens that would grant tax breaks to the natural gas industry, and it is forcing Republican members to choose sides between a traditionally GOP-allied industry and the free-market purism of many conservatives.

The once low-profile Kochs have taken a more prominent role in their fight against the bill than on perhaps any other recent piece of legislation. And they are having success against legislation that once appeared to have momentum.

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I do not get money from Pickens or the Koch brothers. I support the use of natural gas as a motor fuel, but I do not support this legislation. It is too expensive and is totally unnecessary.

There is already a gas to liquids technology being used by several companies to convert natural gas to a liquid fuel that can be pushed through the present distribution system without the expense of setting up a new one. It is happening without government subsidies.

If the market is already in the process of providing the gas to liquids service, it just makes much more sense to let the companies like Shell and other refiners build the plants to do the conversion rather than trying to reinvent the process. Natural gas producers would be much better off investing in deals that do the conversion rather than investing in politicians.

I am not sure why Politico overlooked this better solution, but perhaps it got too wrapped up in the politics and over looked the obvious.