Obama hopes energy projects can swing Western states his way

President Obama yesterday talked up energy-related projects in Western swing states as he continued a cross-country tour promoting his administration's election-year message. After spending the morning in Nevada at a UPS station to promote a proposed liquefied natural gas tax credit, the president appeared at Buckley Air Force Base, reiterating themes from his State of the Union speech to a crowd of about 400, including a large portion of military personnel. Obama's choice of Nevada yesterday to urge that voters "think about an America where more cars and trucks are running on domestic natural gas than on foreign oil" was no accident. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is among the major backers of a bipartisan bill that would offer new tax incentives for the development and production of heavy-duty vehicles that run on now-historically cheap natural gas. "Let's get more of these natural gas vehicles on the road," Obama told a Las Vegas audience, also touting the federal role in promoting infrastructure to help fuel the alternative autos. Reid's fellow sponsors of natural gas vehicle legislation offered quick hosannas for the presidential endorsement of their plan, the Senate version of which also would allow gas-powered cars to qualify for an Energy Department loan program targeted by Republicans last year...more