Please mention that NG vehicles are a reality in California and Utah mainly because the refueling infrastructure is filling in, and cost of fuel in Utah is 63 to 80 cents /gallone (gas equivalent). Half the vehicles in Argentina are NG; why aren\’t WE pushing this in the U.S. ?!?!? Her sub-committe on Clean Air and Nuclear safety could propose a mandate that some existing government vehicles convert to NG and new government vehicles should be NG. Also that any Interstate highway service area MUST offer NG refueling.

Every major car maker has NG models they sell overseas, and until 2003 most sold them in the US; they just need to renew the EPA approvals and we at the Pickens Plan are DONE! $1.00 a gallon fuel will sell itself once this becomes public knowledge.

Articles on the NG vehicle boom in Utah:

http://www.kutv.com/content/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=6b29cc7e-44e3-4339-8652-6febb1c6601d

http://www.kengarffhondadowntown.com/natural_gas_vehicles.htm?bhcp=1

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/SaveonaCar/FillUpFor5DollarsYouCanInUtah.aspx

http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/050108/bus_274066949.shtml

Dr Mark

Our electric utility here in central and western Oklahoma, OG ampersand E, already employs 170MW of wind energy, and are happy enough with the bottom line that they in the process of expanding that to 770MW. So for much of the plan, government incentives (as opposed to \”nanny\” regulations) will simply save precious time. Remember, we\’re spending $700 billion per year (and rising) on imported oil. Likely $10 trillion over the next 10 years. Time is money. Incentives are cheap compared to the enormity of those export dollar figures. And as a conservative republican and long-time oil man, I really don\’t see Mr. Pickens calling for restrictive regulation.

Also, I apologize for the poor formatting of my previous post

1. No where in the plan is there anything about replacing residential or commercial natural gas service. The wind energy contribution would actually free up gas, which is now tied up in electric generation, for other uses, including local natural gas service and transportation. Sorry if that was not clear. Also, note that while oil is getting harder and more expensive to find, natural gas reserves and supplies are on the rise due to the new technologies that allow it to be extracted from shale. However, in recognition of that fact that natural gas is not a boundless resource, the Pickens plan only sees natural gas as a way to buy us the time necessary to convert more fully to renewables. Plug in electric hybrid Mac Trucks, for example, are not on the menu yet. But natural gas powered ones might be.

2. Well, that\’s an excellent question. I\’ve been waiting since I was first made aware of the issues in 1974 at age 11. I\’m truly optimistic, after 34 years, that this plan might actually get implemented.

3. The plan would be helped by government *incentives* which reward those who pursue and use renewable energy sources, in general, and use natural gas for transportation. (The initial focus is on trucks and other commercial fleets, which are not easily transitioned to, say, plugin hybrid electrics, and for which fueling is not as much of an issue as for regular cars.) Mr. Pickens fully recognizes that for the plan to succeed, utilities, and other companies involved must perceive a good economic reason for doing these things. Our electric utility here in central and western Oklahoma, OG

If you are from Texas, write her.

2. Why this plan so late in the game? Many of us for years have been asking for entrepeneurial effort in alternative energy?

3. Along those lines, I am very skeptical of anymore Nanny state regulations in the name of \”public use\” and national security such as recent Supreme Court takings cases. Are you committed to pushing government to lessen, not increase, regulations so that free enterprise can commence to solve these problems that our increasingly fascist government has exacerbated?

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