Posted on 07/15/2008 4:43:04 PM PDT by shove_it
At a press conference in Chicago, Rep. Rahm Emanuel today announced plans to introduce legislation that will compel automakers to make 10 percent of their fleet vehicles that run on natural gas by the year 2018. Emanuel’s proposal also includes incentives and tax credits that will result in the addition of natural gas pumps at 20,000 fueling stations across the country. The legislation will be formally introduced later this week.
“This proposal is a hat trick for America: it's good for our environment, good for our national security and good for drivers who are suffering at the pump. Natural gas is cheap, green and American-made and it’s time we encouraged the use of natural gas vehicles here in America,” said Emanuel. “American drivers should be able to buy a car that runs on a cleaner fuel that is currently half the cost of gas. Developing cars that run on natural gas and making it available at the gas station or at home will save money for consumers and help end our dependence on foreign oil.”
Emanuel’s legislation would compel automakers to make 10% of their fleet vehicles that run on natural gas by the year 2018. The bill would also offer new incentives to make natural gas more readily available for drivers and could enable the construction of natural gas pumps at 20,000 gas stations across the country. The legislation:
Offers a $90,000 tax credit to encourage gas station owners to install natural gas fuel pumps. Provides $2.6 billion in bonding authority to states to provide no or low-interest loans to service stations to install natural gas pumps. Requires the gas stations owned by the major oil companies to install at least one natural gas pump in each station by 2018. Includes tax credits for drivers who convert their cars to allow them to run on natural gas and for those Americans who own home “Phill” units, a simple device that can be installed in a garage that allows drivers to use their home natural gas line to refuel their car. Currently, natural gas costs about half of the price of gasoline and produces approximately one-third less emissions. Additionally, 98% of the natural gas Americans currently consume is produced in North America and current estimates indicate that America has a 118 year supply of natural gas.
“The United States has abundant natural gas reserves,” added Emanuel. “It’s time to start making those reserves work for us.”
American automakers have the technology to produce vehicles that run on natural gas. General Motors currently makes four different natural gas vehicles in Europe and Asia and Ford has previously built natural gas vehicles that were used in the House of Representatives.
The Emanuel legislation would also create jobs and help offset recent declines in the SUV and light truck market. Estimates indicate that increased demand for natural gas powered vehicles and natural gas production could create 500,000 US energy industry jobs.
p.s. I do not hang out at rat web sites. I got a heads up from CLNE, which is an investment in which I am long, and got longer today. No, I am not an analyst nor a pro - I'm just a retiree trying to make a buck in the market and thought y'all might be interested - I haev not seen this in the press yet..
Hey Rahm! Isn't natural gas an eevill CARBON COMPOUND?! By the way genius we have abundant oil reserves too you tool!
Vote them all out. Vote them all out in November. Save America.
While this might sound like a fine idea, I can tell you from personal experience that natural gas is not the way to go. I have driven fleet vehicles that were equipped to run on gasoline or CNG (compressed natural gas), and switching over to CNG was definitely something you didn’t want to do unless absolutely necessary. The power loss was dramatic, not to mention the fact that the entire trunk space was taken up by a huge CNG cylinder.
Although it has been suffering lately from a very overblown misinformation campaign, I think ethanol is a much better way to augment gasoline supplies. (and no, it is not heavily subsidized... the 51 cent per gallon blender’s tax credit goes almost entirely to the oil companies, the entities that blend the fuel; and no, ethanol production is not taking food out of people’s mouths or causing food prices to rise... ethanol production merely uses the starch contained in the corn kernel; the protein and other nutrients remain and are passed on in the form of DDGS and WDGS, by-products that take the place of whole corn for use in animal feed, etc...etc...etc...)
We should be pursuing all reasonable avenues for energy production, including DRILLING. The problem with additional oil production, however, is that it merely goes into a world-wide “pool” of oil, and must sufficiently increase WORLD oil supply to have an effect on price. I am certainly in favor of increasing production wherever we can, so long as we realize that this is a LONG TERM solution, not a short term one.
In the shorter term, alternatives such as ethanol will have an effect if fully exploited. One reason (in ethanol’s case) is that it is not easily exported. Therefore, most or all of our production will remain in the U.S., and will directly and immediately augment U.S. energy supply.
I’m all for letting the market sort things out. In the meantime drill, drill, drill. Nuclear power, nuclear power, nuclear power.
Mandates for ethanol and natural gas are terrible ideas. Ethanol is heavily subsidized through the blender's credit, tariffs on imported ethanol, and the huge mandates. Both conservatives and liberals agree that corn-based ethanol is a deadend. Corn-based ethanol should be the poster child for political intervention in energy markets. Drop the subsidies and no one will use corn-based ethanol. The ethanol defenders know that the subsidies are vital so they provide misinformation about ethanol subsidies and subsidies to other energy sources.
Although I have no experience with CNG vehicles, mandates for them are another terrible idea. Natural gas may even be more limited in supply than oil given that natural gas is difficult to transport. Mandates for natural gas vehicles may cause competition between driving, heating, and electrical generation. I guess that competition is better than corn-based ethanol competing for food.
Diesel trucks and buses are the prime candidates for CNG/LNG from cost and environmental standpoints, IMO. Cars - not so much, as you say.
500,000 jobs? What a load of crap. This is the same Emanuel that stopped the expansion of BP's Whiting Refinery not less than a year ago. Indiana lost out on 2000 new jobs because of this A-hole.
Natural gas PING
Here, read this: Natural Gas Solution
I think ethanol is a much better way to augment gasoline supplies.
You're misguided. Ethanol is not a better option.
The US already has an existing natural gas infrastructure. All we have to do is run pipelines off the coast. And limited in supply? There are literally trillions of cubic feet available. Emanuel completely gets it on this issue.
If there is plentiful supply, why is the price so high? There may be huge reserves but drilling restrictions are placing them off limits.
Emmanuel is promoting another stupid rat idea. Mandates will ensure inefficient usage and another boondoggle. The market can recognize the potential of any energy supply. Central planners like Emmanuel will wreck the economy.
I did not notice Emmanuel offering to open more areas for natural gas exploration. A much better idea would be to open more areas for exploration and simply encourage (no mandates) more natural gas usage.
>>”I did not notice Emmanuel offering to open more areas for natural gas exploration.”
That needs to become an amendment, for sure.
Wow man. Thats is like 10 years in the future. Who the heck plans that far ahead. /sarc
Yeah...
We can wait 10 years for natural gas, but we can’t wait 10 years to drill for oil.
(sarcasm button is stuck) ;)
Rahm Emanuel served in the army of a foreign country instead of our own. That should tell you where his true loyalties lie. If not for a certain asinine Supreme Court ruling, he would be deported and, hopefully, taken out by Hezbollah.
Stay away from NG and use something else. My winter heating bills are nearly unaffordable as is.
Emmanuel is an idiot. From the same bunch that opposes drilling.
Keep on congress. Dont let up.
Pelosi email AmericanVoices@mail.house.gov
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