LP Gas, December 2010

EDitor in ChiEf PATRICK HYLAND Reckless ways Proposed legislation gives engine fuel edge to natural gas electricity merely trades tailpipe exhaust for smokestack pollutants The push for energy independence is a crucial effort that will have lasting consequences for generations to come Our elected officials must recognize that any actions that ignore less expensive solutions to air quality issues and push a single technology is an injustice to the American consumer as well as the promising fast growing alternative fuel field The bottom line is the government should not be in the business of picking the winners when it comes to alternative motor fuels As the National Propane Gas Association has been preaching on several fronts there is no credible policy reason to provide incentives to our competitors in the natural gas industry and not apply the same benefits to propane Any final energy bill should include a more equitable approach to incentivizing alternative fuels and alternative fuel vehicle use an approach that places natural gas and propane vehicle incentive programs on equal footing NPGA already has marshaled some 1500 letters of protest from propane retailers on this point If you havent already done so please consider adding your voice with a note to your Congressman before the lame duck session ends this month LPG phyland@ questex com A s usual developments at the highest level of government have me scratching my head and asking aloud Why Two bills sit poised to crown electricity and natural gas as the exclusive answers for weaning American vehicles off foreign oil dependence U S Senate bills S 3495 Promoting Electric Vehicles Act of 2010 and S 3815 Promoting Natural Gas and Electric Vehicles Act of 2010 both exclude propane and other forms of alternative engine fuels They would provide 45 billion over the next 10 years in tax rebates for buyers of natural gas vehicles and subsidies for vehicle manufacturers The legislation also authorizes 15 billion over the next 10 years for research and development related to plug in hybrid electric vehicles To pay for it the tax that oil companies pay into the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund would nearly triple from 8 cents per barrel to 21 cents just one reason Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid D Nev in mid November postponed a procedural vote Reid claimed S 3815 did not have the 60 votes necessary to proceed but his office remains confident that a bipartisan consensus can be reached So why doesnt propane already the third most used motor fuel in the world behind gasoline and diesel and the most widely used alternative car fuel rate even a sniff of consideration in the legislation Why not include a fuel that is abundant relatively inexpensive and sourced primarily in North America Why exclude the only commercially viable and readily available fuel that The bottom line is the government should not be in the business of picking the winners when it comes to alternative motor fuels has a proven track record of powering vehicles going back almost 100 years Why ignore the fact that propane already offers a national infrastructure of 56000 miles of pipeline and more than 2500 refueling stations and costs only a fraction of new natural gas site installations Why not support propane powered vehicles as either a dedicated fuel or bi fuel that promise to be significantly less expensive to consumers than hybrid or battery electric vehicles of equivalent size Somehow these facts seem to have fallen on deaf ears in the Obama administration and Senate In the face of a handful of recent studies that make persuasive cases for using propane as an autogas both seem intent on vehicle electrification at all costs Why Lobbyist influence aside Im guessing its easier for elected officials to sell their constituents on the simplicity of zero emissions from a plug in vehicle But those supporting no combustion battery electric cars conveniently overlook the fact that most of the electricity generated today 6 LPGas December 2010 www LPGasmagazine com