Natural Gas - The Biggest Stimulus in the U.S.

The biggest stimulus package imaginable with long-term strength lies in our vast reserves of natural gas. In fact, U.S. and Canada have enough reserves to power all vehicles, including diesels, for the next 80-118 years.The U.S. could break their dependence on foreign oil as fast as cars could be retrofitted or new ones rolled out. Ten million cars fueled by natural gas are already in operation around the world. The distribution channels, such as trucking, pipelines, and train, already exist.

Ethanol has proven to be a global failure especially when produced from food crops such as corn. It's production has dramatically raised food prices and threatens to cause disruptions in the price of other commodities like soybeans. The rain forest is being burnt and cleared at record paces to make more agricultural land for ethanol purposes. This leads to increased global warming.

Natural gas burns much cleaner than gasoline, is readily available, and has alternative sources that aren't food related. North America has enough to provide the U.S. a domestic-based fuel, at the same or lower price as foreign oil. There are enough reserves already to last more than 100 years if used alone. That 100 years could be greatly extended by mixing with alternative fuels (non-food sources). Most importantly it would provide the U.S. ample time to pursue other viable, earth-friendly fuel sources, while reducing price fluctuations due to foreign instability.

The time to use natural gas for vehicles is here. We must get to it as soon as we can, because this is critical to our economy both now and long-term. The benefits include:

• Keeps domestic money here, reduces exports, and produces jobs domestically
• Reduces greenhouse gases substantially
• Stabilizes fuel price fluctuations
• Eliminates foreign dependence
• Eliminates need to produce ethanol using food staples such as corn. The government should end subsidies to any producers still using corn or other food source.
• Reduces inflationary pressures caused by high oil and food prices
  

The impact on our national economy would be tremendous. It simply cannot be ignored any longer! There are already politicians in favor of expanding the use of natural gas for vehicles, but others need to get on board. Write your representative and tell them that now is the time to put our plentiful natural gas reserves into play.