Congress’ Cash for Clunkers program – Version 2.0
By Jim Roth | Phillips Murrah P.C. |
The Journal Record
[ AUGUST 10, 2009 - OKLAHOMA CITY, OK ] - The American auto industry received a much-needed boost from Congress’ Cash for Clunkers program as Americans lined up with their old, inefficient cars and gladly took the government’s $3,500 or $4,500 tax incentive to invest in a newer, more energy-efficient vehicle. In fact, the program has been so successful that the first funding was exhausted in a matter of weeks and the U.S. Senate voted 60-37 last week to extend another $2 billion to bolster the program. It’s a sort of Cash for Clunkers, Version 2.0.
But the real version of lasting change for America’s energy dilemmas is not swapping old cars for new; instead it should be efforts, ingenuities and programs to swap old fuel sources for new. And there has been encouraging news lately in this often overlooked sector of the American automobile technology.
After a landslide vote in the U.S. House of Representatives, more natural gas vehicles may be coming to a road near you. The House recently passed a bill that could pave the way for increased research and development of natural gas vehicle (NGV) technologies. Still awaiting Senate approval, the plan directs the U.S. Department of Energy to coordinate with the Environmental Protection Agency to update natural gas conversion systems to comply with federal emission standards. The legislation also dedicates $150 million in the next five years to the development of new generation technology.
To date there are only 110,000 natural gas vehicles on U.S. roads, a number that pales in comparison to the estimated 7 million NGVs worldwide. Congress’ move is an encouraging step toward realizing America’s NGV potential and toward a meaningful transition to an American fuel source, finally.
Natural gas vehicles are designed to run either on natural gas alone or in a hybrid system that allows the vehicle to use natural gas or conventional fuel. Vehicles dedicated to the use of natural gas only tend to have increased gas mileage since they are built lighter. Currently, NGVs can be fueled with either compressed natural gas (CNG) or liquefied natural gas (LNG). Tests are even being conducted to fuel vehicles with a blend of compressed natural gas and hydrogen – again, an abundant, American fuel source.
Beyond the obvious advantage of securing America’s economic and national security interests through greater use of our own natural resources, there is an enormous advantage to Mother Earth, too. First, natural gas is an abundant resource in the United States, where we produce about 20 trillion cubic feet of natural gas each year and most estimates suggest a 100-year supply. Second, natural gas is clean-burning and the vehicles require less engine maintenance and operating costs over time, a real benefit to working families. Wow, imagine energy policies that create benefits to both Uncle Sam and Mother Earth; now that’s an American family working together.
According to the Department of Energy, light-duty CNG vehicles reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 25 percent compared to light-duty gasoline-powered vehicles. Those same CNG vehicles emit little to no particulate matter and eliminate evaporative emissions. CNG vehicles also emit fewer toxins and carcinogens. The EPA has even labeled the Honda Civic GX, a natural gas powered car, the “cleanest internal-combustion vehicle on Earth.”
It’s my hope, now that a successful program has helped work through excessive inventory of cars built the old way, that American ingenuity and even congressional support, if necessary, will focus on building cars that rely on American fuel sources and create cleaner skies.
Jim Roth, a former Oklahoma corporation commissioner, is an attorney with Phillips Murrah P.C. in Oklahoma City, where his practice focuses on clean, green energy for Oklahoma.