There are three objectives in
There are three objectives in moving to new sources of energy for transportation from the petroleum dependece we have today. They are 1. criteria emissions, 2. global warming and 3. domestic production. Ask yourself which of these is the largest and nearest term problem: Are you going to choke on dirty air, roast yourself and the planet through the green house effect, or suffer continuing economic ruin and engage in foreign wars to protect your oil supplies?
I would submit it is the latter and that natural gas is the ONLY alternative that has the scale and cost effectiveness to work. Electric vehicles are far too expensive and there is not even a "line of sight" to sufficient battery capacity to allow practical range under real world (read; hot and cold, I would like to have a/c and heat) driving conditions. Natural gas can contribute immediately to cleaning up the electrical grid by moving us away from coal and it can be very effectively used in transpotation - especially for higher fuel use trucks.
We need to stop the silly attacks on hydraulic fracturing and gas leaks - there are no other near term solutions (if there are issues - fix them - we have the technology, and it is not complicated). We would all be a lot better off if we agreed to move to domestic natural gas as fast as possible and to make it work. People who suggest gas leaks cause global warming and therefore we should not move to it are essentially perpetuationg the status quo and our associated petroleum dependence - It's sad and shows a complete lack of a big-picture perspective.