PODESTA AND PICKENS STUMP FOR NATURAL GAS - The New York Times - Green, Inc.
January 13, 2010, 4:20 pm
Podesta and Pickens Stump for Natural Gas
By CLIFFORD KRAUSS
The Associated Press; Bloomberg John Podesta, left, a former White House chief of staff, and the Texas financier T. Boone Pickens jointly extolled the virtues of natural gas on Wednesday.
T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire Texas financier, and John Podesta, President Bill Clinton’s White House chief of staff, are not exactly political soul mates.
But Mr. Pickens and Mr. Podesta did hold a joint news media briefing on Wednesday to talk about legislation that would grant large tax breaks to fleets of heavy trucks if they switch from diesel fuel to natural gas.
They called on Republican and Democratic lawmakers to get together behind natural gas to replace oil imports from hostile or unstable nations.
“It is clean, you don’t need a refinery,” Mr. Pickens said of natural gas. Mr. Podesta agreed, and added that a fifth of the oil that comes to American shores comes from countries that the State Department deems are dangerous or unstable for travelers. “And that does not include Venezuela,” Mr. Podesta added.
Mr. Podesta said bills that would support more natural gas use in heavy trucks could be passed alone, as part of a jobs bill, or as part of the climate change legislation highlighted by cap and trade.
If the natural gas legislation passes, it would mean that within seven years, enough heavy-duty trucks and buses would be fueled by natural gas to reduce oil imports by up to 700,000 barrels a day, or about 8 percent of total oil imports, according to calculations from Mr. Pickens’s staff.
The two men also unveiled the first of three television commercials that will kick off a new round of the so-called Pickens Plan in support of natural gas.
“I am really pleased he has come back to try to tee this up again,” Mr. Podesta said of Mr. Pickens.
Podesta and Pickens Stump for Natural Gas
By CLIFFORD KRAUSS
The Associated Press; Bloomberg John Podesta, left, a former White House chief of staff, and the Texas financier T. Boone Pickens jointly extolled the virtues of natural gas on Wednesday.
T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire Texas financier, and John Podesta, President Bill Clinton’s White House chief of staff, are not exactly political soul mates.
But Mr. Pickens and Mr. Podesta did hold a joint news media briefing on Wednesday to talk about legislation that would grant large tax breaks to fleets of heavy trucks if they switch from diesel fuel to natural gas.
They called on Republican and Democratic lawmakers to get together behind natural gas to replace oil imports from hostile or unstable nations.
“It is clean, you don’t need a refinery,” Mr. Pickens said of natural gas. Mr. Podesta agreed, and added that a fifth of the oil that comes to American shores comes from countries that the State Department deems are dangerous or unstable for travelers. “And that does not include Venezuela,” Mr. Podesta added.
Mr. Podesta said bills that would support more natural gas use in heavy trucks could be passed alone, as part of a jobs bill, or as part of the climate change legislation highlighted by cap and trade.
If the natural gas legislation passes, it would mean that within seven years, enough heavy-duty trucks and buses would be fueled by natural gas to reduce oil imports by up to 700,000 barrels a day, or about 8 percent of total oil imports, according to calculations from Mr. Pickens’s staff.
The two men also unveiled the first of three television commercials that will kick off a new round of the so-called Pickens Plan in support of natural gas.
“I am really pleased he has come back to try to tee this up again,” Mr. Podesta said of Mr. Pickens.
Views: 20
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Keith Mauck (Site Publisher) on -
Podesta certainly has Obama's Ear
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Permalink Reply by Pipeliner on
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Shake and Take
By Jeffrey Folks
Over the past several years, the president has repeatedly vowed to make the United States less dependent on foreign sources of oil. From the actions of Ken Salazar and his lieutenants, however, it would seem that the Interior Department's main mission is to reduce domestic energy production.
Surely, that is the effect of Salazar's announcement on January 6 that his department intends to slow the permitting process for energy projects on federal lands. The "fast-track" procedures approved by Congress in 2005, lauded by consumers as a way to increase production and reduce costs, are now to be replaced by the requirement of more paperwork, inspection, and layering of bureaucratic approval.
As our economy recovers, we are going to need cheap and reliable sources of energy. Almost providentially, at the very moment in our nation's history when this supply is most in need, a solution has presented itself: vast new discoveries of shale gas, and the development of the technology to release it. With the discovery of enormous fields of natural gas in Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and New York, as well as in other states and offshore, America is now the Saudi Arabia of natural gas. If one truly wished to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign energy, the only requirement would be for government to step aside and allow the free market to develop these remarkable reserves.
Unfortunately, this is the last thing we can expect from the Obama administration, which has been busy from day one tightening restrictions on domestic production of oil and gas. Most Americans like to believe that their president is fundamentally honest and sincere, so they must be perplexed by the contradiction between this particular president's actions and his words. As recently as December 8, 2009, Obama reiterated his pledge to reduce dependence on foreign oil, yet at the same time he was working feverishly to curtail domestic production of both oil and natural gas. An ordinary citizen would have to conclude that Obama is deranged.
Unfortunately, our president is not deranged, but cunning. Just as he has done with health care suppliers, Obama is putting the squeeze on domestic energy producers by tightening regulation and raising taxes and royalty fees. The intent of this shakedown is two-fold.
First, by threat and intimidation, Obama hopes to stifle political opposition from a powerful industry group. There might even be energy outfits, such as a major Midwestern electric utility, willing to support Obama's radical agenda if offered a carrot along with the usual stick. Second, by confiscating profits, government will increase revenue with which to expand its client base of voters.
The Chicago shakedown is crude but effective: Intimidate those who are productive, force them to hand over a portion of their earnings, and redistribute those funds to those who are not productive but who nonetheless vote. The result is the establishment of a dependable client base of supporters whose welfare benefits are maintained at the expense of productive businesses and wage-earners.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/01/shake_and_take.html
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Permalink Reply by P.G. on
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Wow!
Kind of like falling out of the boat (recession) and when you are coming up for air (recovery) Obama and gang are trying to push you back down with the oar, huh?
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Permalink Reply by Pipeliner on
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You have to have government will and desire to push for the use of CNG vehicles and fueling points. In the USA, we do not any desire from the federal government.
Take the joint venture of government and private industry in Bangladesh (a country about the size of the state of Louisiana) where there are 150,000 vehicles running on CNG-the same as the USA.
http://www.cngnow.com/EN-US/Vehicles/AroundTheWorld/Pages/default.aspx
This is a dirt-poor country (average income in 1984/yr when I worked there-now around $380/year). Population was 100 million in 1984.In the country, in 1984 there was only 31,000 automobiles (all limited to engine size of 2 liters) Any bigger engined cars could not be imported. Most of what is being converted are trucks and motorized "baby Taxis"
I saw a new Mercedes stretch limo being unloaded on the docks of the port of Chittagong, This Chinese Embassy car had a 2-liter (about 122 cubic inch) and could barely pull itself along.
The first thing the government converted was their diesel locomotives, while we we still laying the pipelines. We laid laterals to railroad terminals and round houses.
Of course they were still running coal-burning locomotives (with the wide smokestacks like in the old Western movies) and were made in the 1870s, You could not convert then. I have ridden on some of these. You did not wear good clothes as the burning cinders would blow in the windows and burn holes in your clothes. Look sort of like a welder's clothes. You had to wear wrap around safety glasses or the hot cinders would get in your eyes. The trains had no closed air conditioned cars.
Usually there would be 300 or 400 people riding free on top of the trains. These are the ones that die first in train crashes.
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Permalink Reply by drilltheshale on
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All due respect, but this sounds more like a polemic than a business article. Maybe you want to move the Obama-bashing over to the Political Forum and folks can talk about NG here.
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Permalink Reply by VSC DeSoto South on
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I concur...
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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on
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Thank you, drilltheshale, VSC and Harold. I have been holding my tongue waiting to see if anyone else found the partisan polemics unsuitable for a Main Page discussion. And I agree, political egg heads can howl at the moon to the heart's desire in the political forum.
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Permalink Reply by sesport on
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I'll agree that the political should be in political and respect should be shown for site guidelines, but the nature of this post involves politics, too.
"They called on Republican and Democratic lawmakers to get together behind natural gas to replace oil imports from hostile or unstable nations."
Keith's own first comment mentions the president, too.
Skip, you posted the article, I see it as your call as to where it should be placed and/or moved.
As for the "egg heads" remark ... take it back or I'll be finding a gauntlet to throw down, lol.
80)
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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on
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I have spoken. LOL!
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