By Guest Writer Ed Finklea

Ed Finklea is the Executive Director of Energy Action Northwest – The Job Keepers, a business and labor coalition favoring clean, affordable and reliable energy.

So what should one do upon being hired as Executive Director of Energy Action Northwest (energyactionnw.org) …a new business and labor coalition that advocates, in part, for the use of clean natural gas as a “blue bridge to a green future”?

Well, in my case the answer was simple. I decided to buy the “greenest car in America” according to none other than the Environmental Protection Agency.

My new buggy runs without burning any oil, can be purchased today for around $25,000, and runs on a fuel that costs less than gasoline. It’s my new Honda Civic GX.

Many automakers are developing natural gas cars, including GM. Made in America; natural gas cars (CNG) use natural gas for fuel instead of gasoline. Because natural gas burns so much cleaner than oil, these cars have the lowest overall air emissions of any auto on the road today, and have a total “carbon footprint” equivalent to the Toyota Prius and way better than all the rest of the cars on the road. If you want to reduce your carbon footprint and really drive oil free, a natural gas car is for you.

If you want to own and operate a natural gas car in Oregon today, you need to purchase and install your own CNG fueling station at home because Oregon has hardly any public CNG fueling stations. H-e-l-l-o!?!

Happily, the home station is a natural gas appliance that can be installed outside your home. One filling at home will get you approximately 220 miles. If Oregon follows the lead of Seattle, most of Utah, and most parts of California, some day owners of CNG vehicles will be able to refuel at public stations where CNG buses, taxis, trash haulers and fleet vehicles fill.

With some policy changes to make access to commercial CNG filling stations as easy as finding a drive-through espresso stand, many of us could be driving safe and reliable automobiles that really help save our planet, our bank accounts and slashes oil imports immediately.

With sensible policies favoring more access to natural gas supplies, most of us could choose to drive CNG-powered cars for at least a couple decades before we could ever achieve practical plug-in electric cars that are safe, affordable, and plugged into a “pure green” electric grid. (Right now 40 percent of Oregon’s electric grid is coal-fired) That’s why driving a CNG vehicle is my [1 Thing] and I recommend other people do it too; for themselves, their country and the planet.