All I can say is HOORAY! The Pickens plan has proposed using natural gas to power the nation's long haul truck fleet (among other proposals). We should let the countries who would bleed us financially keep their crude oil. We've got huge reserves of natural gas and we will be much better off, both financially and environmentally, if we use those reserves. Again, I say, HOORAY!

So where can I buy a vehicle that burns natural gas, and how much more will it cost me?

At best, natural gas cars will be a transition technology as we move toward plug-in cars. The problem with natural gas as a transportation fuel is that we already rely heavily on natural gas for agriculture, heavy industry (e.g., steel), heating buildings, heating water, and increasingly for electricity. As we add one more sector to the already massive sectors that rely on natural gas, we're destined for the same challenges we face with oil.

It may be that natural gas will be good for large trucks as cars will rely on electricity that can be expanded with renewables (e.g., solar, wind, geothermal) that will not draw from fuels needed for other sectors.

The other problem with natural gas is its price volatility -- just last summer, it was reaching record highs, and a hurricane or other shock to the economy will likely drive prices back up again.

The bottomline is that we need to diversify our transportation fuels, and renewable energy electricity with plug-ins will be the longer-term solution.

97 cents, does that include the .50 c tax to pay for the highways?

You are correct in most of what you say, but not the one major thing you said: Plug-ins are NOT the long-term solution.

If anything, plug-ins are a short-term solution right alongside NGV's. There are so many problems with battery technology that will take a long time to be solved, not to mention that there's not enough nickel in the world to create all the batteries needed to power all our cars.

Plug-ins that store energy in other forms such as compressed air are interesting, but don't think for a minute that the Chevy Volt is going to revolutionize transportation.

Yes, and providing subsidies for corn ethanol in the Midwest has worked real well, too.

Isn't natural gas a FOSSIL fuel?

we are already importing compressed natural gas from our enemies - so how does this help? All it does is drive up demand for natural gas which drives up my cost to heat my home. If they are going to invest in an infrastructure to take the place of gasoline, why not hydrogen?

if natural gas heats your home, then you already have the infrastructure in place to fuel a cng vehicle.

but...if we change over to natural gas, then the price will go up due to taxation. Greedy government officials will need taxation funding frivolous spending. Taxes are evil!