Strange bedfellows oppose Natural Gas Act

In what is becoming a summer ritual high gas prices are again at the forefront of the national consciousness. With the U.S. consuming 20 percent of the world’s oil supply and controlling only 2 percent of the reserves, there simply is no short term solution to reducing prices at the pump. President Obama knows this, but sometimes perception is more important than reality. Right now everyone is scrambling to make it seem like they are the ones reducing prices.

When the focus is on fixing perception instead of dealing with reality the result is often bad policy. In his State of the Union address President Obama touted what the White House is calling its “all of the above energy approach” — no need to worry about the impact of oil usage on climate change and public health.  In a similar vein Senators Burr and Menendez are trying to get massive subsidies for natural gas vehicles added into the Transportation bill.

Converting our vehicle fleet to natural gas is simply a bad idea for the environment and conservatives believe it is bad economics. That’s why a diverse set of groups with different missions and vastly different views on the role of government are working together to try to stop this horrible idea from becoming a reality.