OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Two Oklahoma congressmen are backing a bill that would encourage the use of compressed natural gas as a vehicle fuel.
Rep. Dan Boren, a Democrat, and Rep. John Sullivan, a Republican, were joined Wednesday at a Washington news conference promoting the bill by billionaire energy magnate and Oklahoma native T. Boone Pickens.
Boren, who introduced what is dubbed as the "New Alternative Transpiration to Give Americans Solutions Act," said it is designed to reduce transportation fuel costs, greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles and urban pollution where dense vehicular fleets are prevalent.
"This legislation can be a defining moment in the history of our nation's energy policy," Boren said.
"We are at a crossroads, and the decisions we make today in Congress will determine the stability of our future energy industry, our domestic supply and the daily cost of energy for millions of consumers and businesses across the nation."
Sullivan is co-sponsoring the bill, along with Rep. John Larson of Connecticut, who is the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. The proposal is similar to one introduced last year in Congress by Sullivan and Boren.
The bill calls for an 18-year extension of three tax incentives that focus on natural gas as a transportation fuel, the purchase of natural gas-fueled vehicles and the installation of commercial and residential natural gas refueling pumps.
The current alternative fuel credit will expire at the end of this year, while the vehicle and refueling pump credits are set to expire at the end of 2010.
The proposal also would modify current tax credits to provide what its authors hope would be more incentive for state and municipal fleet managers to buy natural gas vehicles and engines.
"Increased use of natural gas is a key component of the comprehensive energy policy our nation so badly needs," Sullivan said. "By ushering more natural gas vehicles to the marketplace as this legislation does, we will decrease our dependence on foreign sources of oil and put America on the path to energy security."
Last July, Pickens launched his so-called "Pickens Plan" for energy independence. The multimedia campaign is designed to bring more focus to solving the nation's energy crisis. The plan calls for developing renewable energy sources and using natural gas as a transportation fuel to help wean the U.S. from its dependency on foreign oil.
Pickens praised the bipartisan approach to the legislation.
"America's national and economic security depends on moving off foreign oil as quickly as possible," he said. "Natural gas is the cleanest, most abundant, most economical domestic fuel to replace imported diesel.
"The U.S. has enough natural gas reserves to last us more than 118 years. We should turn to it as an immediate replacement for foreign oil in fleets and heavy duty vehicles. A battery can't move an 18-wheeler - the technology isn't there yet. Natural gas buys us a bridge to the future."
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