NATURAL-GAS VEHICLES WILL LOWER EMISSIONS

Natural gas is much better suited for pickups and other large vehicles than electrification.

July 26, 2016 3:31 p.m. ET  wsj.com

“Regulators Defend Fuel Standards” (U.S. News, July 19) notes the growing tension between consumer desires for larger, less fuel-efficient light trucks and ambitious automotive emissions and efficiency targets set by the Environmental Protection Agency. There is a proven but unfortunately overlooked solution to this problem: fueling light trucks with natural gas. Natural gas is much better suited for pickups and other large vehicles than electrification and conventional natural gas can reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 20%. Even better, greenhouse-gas emissions can be reduced by 90% or more with renewable natural gas captured from landfills or dairy farms, which is already providing over half of natural gas-vehicle fueling in California today.

These emissions benefits are easily on par with electric vehicles but regulators and legislators alike have failed to provide the same level of support. In particular, natural-gas vehicles ought to be eligible for the $7,500 federal tax credit that is currently available only to electric vehicles, as well as the considerable regulatory incentives for EVs provided by the EPA and California Air Resources Board. European countries such as Germany and Italy have proved that natural gas can become a low-cost, widely used alternative fuel with the right policies. With similar government support in the U.S., natural gas could allow auto makers to provide low-emission alternatives for the larger vehicles that consumers are gravitating toward.

Harvey Lamm

Blue Bell, Pa.

Mr. Lamm is a co-founder of VNG Co., a company providing compressed natural-gas fueling for light-duty vehicles.