Incoming American Gas Association Board Chairman John Somerhalder II said Friday that the primary focus of the US natural gas industry should be on improving pipeline safety, and said the industry also would focus its lobbying efforts in Congress to further tax incentives for natural gas vehicles.
At a roundtable with reporters, Somerhalder said that even though the natural gas industry is "remarkably safe, by any metric, by any standard," the priority of the industry in the upcoming year would be to improve pipeline operations and impose new technologies "to implement things that will continue to make that industry even safer than it is."
Somerhalder, the president and CEO of Atlanta-based AGL Resources, said with Congress' move away from climate change legislation, the AGA's legislative focus would be on maintaining funding for the Low Income Heat Assistance Program and pushing for an extension of tax cuts for shareholder dividends.
"When you look at the role natural gas can play in helping this economy and meeting the energy needs of the US, we are remarkably well positioned," said Somerhalder, who highlighted the abundance of domestic supply of natural gas, its efficiency and its role as a jobs creator.
Somerhalder stressed the need for more tax incentives and subsidies for the development of natural gas vehicles.
"That's one place where we truly can use domestic natural gas to substitute for oil, as an example, and with the cost of natural gas, because of the abundance we've seen, the economics are moving in a very favorable direction to put a priority on that," Somerhalder said.
On Thursday, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, introduced the Middle Class Tax Cut Act of 2010, which includes an extension, through 2011, of tax credits for heavy natural gas vehicles; the 50 cent/gal alternative fuel tax credit for liquid fuels derived from biomass, compressed or liquefied biogas, natural gas and propane; and a credit for infrastructure.
Charles Fritts, the AGA's vice president of government relations, said the AGA wanted those extensions to be longer, "but in today's tight budget situation it's been hard to get longer-term extensions."
Somerhalder said the industry would also like to see renewable electricity credits for landfill gas taken into pipelines as well.
At a roundtable with reporters, Somerhalder said that even though the natural gas industry is "remarkably safe, by any metric, by any standard," the priority of the industry in the upcoming year would be to improve pipeline operations and impose new technologies "to implement things that will continue to make that industry even safer than it is."
Somerhalder, the president and CEO of Atlanta-based AGL Resources, said with Congress' move away from climate change legislation, the AGA's legislative focus would be on maintaining funding for the Low Income Heat Assistance Program and pushing for an extension of tax cuts for shareholder dividends.
"When you look at the role natural gas can play in helping this economy and meeting the energy needs of the US, we are remarkably well positioned," said Somerhalder, who highlighted the abundance of domestic supply of natural gas, its efficiency and its role as a jobs creator.
Somerhalder stressed the need for more tax incentives and subsidies for the development of natural gas vehicles.
"That's one place where we truly can use domestic natural gas to substitute for oil, as an example, and with the cost of natural gas, because of the abundance we've seen, the economics are moving in a very favorable direction to put a priority on that," Somerhalder said.
On Thursday, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, introduced the Middle Class Tax Cut Act of 2010, which includes an extension, through 2011, of tax credits for heavy natural gas vehicles; the 50 cent/gal alternative fuel tax credit for liquid fuels derived from biomass, compressed or liquefied biogas, natural gas and propane; and a credit for infrastructure.
Charles Fritts, the AGA's vice president of government relations, said the AGA wanted those extensions to be longer, "but in today's tight budget situation it's been hard to get longer-term extensions."
Somerhalder said the industry would also like to see renewable electricity credits for landfill gas taken into pipelines as well.
