It heats your house, and it fuels a tiny percentage of automobiles and a growing number of trucks -- but is natural gas the petroleum alternative that can be embraced by President Donald Trump, who's decided to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord?
"We don't know yet," said Thomas Lawson, president of the California Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition.
The question was not on the table when plans were made for a small fleet of natural gas-fueled vehicles to make a demonstration run from Long Beach to the nation's capitol. But the new uncertainty hung in the heavy marine layer near the port Monday morning when two buses, a bobtail, a pickup and a refuse collector -- all fueled by natural gas -- rolled out of the Clean Energy Fueling station.
The natural gas vehicle contingent will be making 18 stops on its cross country tour.
Its goal is to "make the case visually that we are ready to be the next solution for alternative fuel," Lawson said.
"It certainly is challenging," said Chad Lindstrom, sales vice president for Clean Energy Fuels, of the President's announcement. "It confuses the conversation."
Nevertheless, Lindstrom, Lawson and fellow natural gas boosters see California's lower emission momentum unphased. But they would prefer to have Washington also on board.
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Though also a fossil fuel hydrocarbon, emissions from an engine burning natural gas are as much as 30 percent lower than from diesel or gasoline engines, Lawson said.
Hydrogen fuel cells and pure electric are lower still, and are now available in cars ranging from Hondas to Teslas, but their development for use in 18-wheelers has lagged behind natural gas.
Natural gas-fueled buses appeared decades ago and now are a staple of the LA's Metro system. Later, fleets of refuse trucks began switching to natural gas, prodded in large part by the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 -- AB32.
The push now is to get more natural gas engines in the 18-wheel big rig tractors that long have been dominated by diesel.
"I like it because we need to take care of our air," said truck driver Juan Millones while natural gas was being pumped into his rig. His main complaint is less power than in the diesel vehicles he has driven.
Improvements are promised in the next generation of natural gas engines scheduled to be released next year.
Another advantage cited for natural gas is the abudant domestic supply, augmented by increasing availability of renewable natural gas, generally tapped from the methane emissions of landfills.
When he founded Clean Energy Fuels, Texas oilman and financier T. Boone Pickens described his goal of reducing U.S. dependence on imported oil for fueling transportation.
The barrier is the cost of converting fleets. A diesel engine cannot be retrofitted to run on natural gas. It requires a whole new engine. And with diesels having a service life of 15 years or more, that's longer than natural gas proponents want to wait.
Lawson said incentives are essential to expediting the switch. Some already exist, especially in California.
With the enormous volume of truck traffic delivering and picking up cargo at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, exhaust emissions have become an issue. Port commissions are now considering tightening emission restrictions, which natural gas proponents expect would encourage a switch to natural gas or other alternative fuels.
The natural gas for transportation movement would also welcome incentives on a national scale.
"We do need Congress to...approve some bills and get the budgets going, and start having those conversations," said Lawson. "We're not there yet."
