Pickens makes his case for the Natural Gas Act

Billionaire Dallas oil man T. Boone Pickens has returned fire at fiscal conservatives who say that industry-specific tax credits, such as those laid out in his proposal to to greatly increase the natural-gas-powered vehicles on American roads, are bad economic policy:

In an opinion piece, Pickens makes a constitutional argument for the Natural Gas Act, which would create billions of dollars in tax credits to encourage motorists and businesses to buy the vehicles.

Those tax credits would mean “someone gets to keep more of the money he’s earned, rather than giving it to the government to spend on who knows what,” Pickens says. “It is not a government grant. And this tax credit, unlike many others, (would have) a sunset provision of five years.”

Pickens makes the case that the tax credit plan would help promote a domestic manufacturing capability for natural gas-powered vehicles and could help lessen U.S. dependence on foreign imports of oil. The increased energy security, he says, dovetails with the Constitution’s charge to Congress to “provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States.”

“Absent a plan of their own, critics of my plan are for the status quo, which is to continue sending billions of dollars to OPEC nations, many of whom, in return, are helping to fund terrorism,” Pickens says.

The legislation, known as the Natural Gas Act, would dramatically expand the use of natural gas as a transportation fuel among heavy- duty fleets. The bill has 188 sponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives. House and Senate versions of the bill provide tax breaks for natural gas-powered vehicles and fueling stations.

Pickens' opinion piece is here (scroll down).

- JP