Obama proposed several steps, including offering tax incentives for companies that buy medium- and heavy-duty trucks that run on natural gas, working with the private sector to develop the refueling infrastructure, and a new competition headed by the Department of Energy to look for new technologies for natural gas vehicles.

Boosting the use of natural gas in transportation would be good for US energy security and the environment, Obama said, echoing his remarks during the 24 January State of the Union Address. Domestic natural gas production could support 600,000 jobs by the end of the decade, Obama said.

“We are the Saudi Arabia of natural gas,” he said during a speech at a UPS facility in Las Vegas. UPS, along with the South Coast Air Quality Management District in Los Angeles, today opened the first of several “natural gas corridors” for refueling trucks that president wants to develop. The corridor runs from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City and was helped by a $5.6mn award from 2009 stimulus package.

The president is also scheduled to speak about energy issues later today at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, Colorado, where he “will reiterate his support for clean energy tax credits,” including the production tax credit, and highlight steps the US Navy and Department of Interior are taking to support renewable energy production, a senior administration official said. The president will announce the Navy's commitment to purchase 1GW worth of electricity from renewable sources.

Source: http://www.argusmedia.com