It's a Gas

Natural Gas is good. The NatGas bill is bad -- very very very bad. Congressional business as usual with an extra dose of Crony Capitalism. Featuring George Soros. From The Washington Examiner:

Pelosi's conflict of interest in natural gas bill
There aren't many things in the fields of energy and environment on which Democrats and Republicans agree, but manipulating the U.S. tax code to make money apparently is one of them. How else to explain the unlikely partnership between oilman T. Boone Pickens, former Reagan cabinet officials James C. Miller III and John S. Herrington, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi? Pickens, Miller and Herrington are on the board of directors of the Clean Energy Fuels Corp., while Pelosi owns stock in the company worth $50,000 to $100,000. Clean Energy Fuels Corp. stands to be the biggest beneficiary of passage of the Nat Gas Act now before Congress.

The Nat Gas Act provides tax credits to manufacturers and owners of trucks and other vehicles if they use natural gas as their principal fuel. The bill also provides hefty tax credits for service station owners to buy and install natural gas fueling equipment and extends for five years the current 50-cents-per-gallon tax credit at the pump for buyers of natural gas. Proponents of the Nat Gas Act claim its provisions would cost taxpayers no more than $5 billion, but, as the Wall Street Journal recently pointed out, the actual total could easily be nearer $100 billion. Either way, Clean Energy Fuels Corp. would be enriched immensely by the cash flow generated merely by changing the federal tax code to encourage more widespread use of natural gas as a transportation fuel.

From the Heritage Foundation:

Soros May Benefit From White House�s Natural Gas Proposal
George Soros, a billionaire investor and major backer of President Obama, stands to reap a windfall from legislation promoting natural gas-powered vehicles. The White House unveiled a proposal on Thursday that would do just that.

More (talking about another company that would receive massive subsidies):

If Westport reaps the predicted windfall, one of the chief beneficiaries will be George Soros, a major Obama donor and supporter. Soros�s hedge fund holds 3,160,063 company shares (as of its last SEC filing).

The Westport that was mentioned is a Canadian company. We will be massively subsidizing a Canadian company. Jazz Shaw writing at Hot Air says it best in his closing paragraph of this post: Let�s put the brakes on the NAT GAS act:

So why would I not be embracing H.R. 1380? Because if natural gas is to continue to succeed as a viable, mass market energy source � which I fully believe it shall � it needs to be able to do it on its own and prove that it�s viable. If the demand is there, the market will respond. If it isn�t, then it wasn�t meant to be. Washington has repeatedly proven that it has zero clue when it comes to picking winners and losers in the free market. Let�s not allow them to stick their noses even further into the energy industry.

Here is a PDF of the text of H.R. 1380. Right now, nobody will vote on it by itself so they are trying to add it as a rider to the Transportation Bill which has major political pressure to pass.