As more clean-burning American natural gas from the Marcellus Shale and other formations is safely produced, governors from both political parties across the United States are implementing common sense policies aimed at leveraging these abundant, affordable, domestic resources to fuel our nation’s transportation needs.

Here’s a rundown of some of the recent progress on this important front:

Pennsylvania:

DEP Announces Natural Gas Vehicle Seminar on Oct. 16 in Erie County: The Department of Environmental Protection will hold a Natural Gas Vehicle seminar on Tuesday, Oct. 16, at the Bayfront Convention Center in Erie, to help municipal and commercial fleet owners make informed decisions about converting their fleets to compressed natural gas and liquefied natural gas. … “With all of Act 13, but with this program in particular, Governor Corbett and the legislature have captured for us the tremendous opportunity we have with our own home-grown natural gas to displace OPEC as the primary fuel supplier for Pennsylvania’s and America’s vehicles,” DEP Secretary Mike Krancer said. “These seminars will inform local governments and businesses about how they can do their part in making America energy-secure by taking advantage of a fuel found right here in Pennsylvania that is abundant, clean-burning and inexpensive.”

22 States:

Colorado gov: States willing to buy up to 10,000 natural gas vehicles annually: Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said he expects coalition of 22 states will agree to buy as many 10,000 vehicles annually that run on compressed natural gas – if U.S. automakers build them. “I think we are going to be able to (order) 5 or 10,000 vehicles year – is how many we’re talking about ordering. That should be enough to get them to move an assembly line,” Hickenlooper said in an interview ahead of the presidential debate this evening. He said 22 states have agreed to make a joint bid to buy CNG vehicles – to spur production. … In July, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin, Hickenlooper and other officials flew to Detroit to meet with U.S. auto manufacturers to push them to build CNG vehicles by ensuring that state governments will back the effort. Hickenlooper is flying to a meeting tomorrow in Oklahoma to discuss the plan to convince automakers to build CNG vehicles on the assembly line. In April, 13 governors — including Fallin and Hickenlooper — sent letters [available HERE] to auto makers in the United States expressing their commitment to explore ways to purchase more CNG vehicles for their state fleets. Hickenlooper said 22 states are now involved. … The initial states taking part include: Oklahoma, Colorado, Wyoming, Pennsylvania, Utah, Maine, New Mexico, West Virginia, Kentucky, Texas, Ohio, Mississippi and Louisiana.

Virginia:

Governor McDonnell Announces Agreements and Signs Executive Directive to Advance Conversion of State Vehicle Fleet to Alternative Fuels: Governor Bob McDonnell today announced contractual agreements with two private fuel companies, and signed a multi-state memorandum of understanding and an executive directive advancing the effort to convert Virginia’s state vehicle fleet to alternative fuels. … “Virginia has an opportunity to lead the nation by fully committing to making a substantial contribution to our nation’s energy independence from foreign oil. The Commonwealth of Virginia owns thousands of vehicles powered primarily by gasoline or diesel fuels blended from foreign oil,” Governor McDonnell said. “In addition to reducing our nation’s dependence on foreign sources of oil, a transition to natural gas and propane vehicles will also reduce emissions. Although these alternative fuel vehicles are available and operating on our roads today, available refueling infrastructure for these vehicles is limited. The agreements signed today will bring new refueling stations to Virginia at no-cost, and they will be available to state agencies, local governments, and private citizens and businesses. These alternative fuel vehicles can and should be used by the Commonwealth to reduce the Commonwealth’s dependence on foreign oil and expand markets for domestic fuels. Not only is this good for the government and the environment, but ultimately it will be good for consumers and the economy as well.”

MSC member company Cabot Oil & Gas, in a blog post this week, highlights the enormous benefits of leveraging the Marcellus Shale’s abundant natural gas resources to fuel our growing transportation needs. This from the post entitled “Putting Cabot’s Marcellus Production into Perspective”:

In the time that Cabot has been involved in Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania, we’ve produced 345 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of natural gas. So okay, 345 Bcf sounds like a lot but what could you do with that much natural gas? Well for starters, you could take a massive road trip. The 345 Bcf that Cabot has produced is enough to power 30.5 MILLION vehicles running on natural gas (CNG) for a trip from Boston to San Francisco. … You could always use the 345 Bcf of CNG for one vehicle and make 18 trips to Pluto and back and still have a little left over in the tank.

And while the safe development of clean-burning American natural gas and its expanded use continues to receive broad bipartisan support [see what the presidential campaigns are saying], New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo continues to unnecessarily resist this pro-jobs, pro-environment, pro-affordable energy opportunity. In an editorial today, the Wall Street Journal writes:

This [de facto moratorium] is a giant loss for New York, which holds an estimated 20% of the reserves in the Marcellus Shale formation. A 2011 Manhattan Institute study estimates that the typical Marcellus well generates more than $5 million in economic benefits and $2 million in tax revenue. If fracking were allowed, the study notes New York would already be on its way to creating more than $11 billion in economic output and more than 15,000 jobs by 2020. That’s already happening in neighboring Ohio and Pennsylvania. The shale bonanza is also sparking a surge in manufacturing investment to exploit cheaper energy. Egypt’s Orascom Construction announced last month it plans to build a $1.4 billion fertilizer plant in Iowa, while Dow Chemical in April announced a $1.7 billion ethylene production plant in Texas—all thanks to shale gas. Upstate New York desperately needs this economic jump-start.