Talk about a contradiction! While Oregon officials are working hard to block imports of natural gas, the federal government is trying to promote its use as an efficient fuel. This is apparent from an announcement by Northwest Natural, the gas company that serves the mid-valley and other parts of northwest Oregon.

The company says that President Obama's "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009" has provisions to benefit customers looking to upgrade to more energy-efficient equipment or to convert to natural gas.

It's a bit of commercial self-promotion, of course, but the company correctly points out that natural gas is the cleanest-burning fossil fuel. "When burned, natural gas produces about 50 percent less carbon dioxide than coal, and about 30 percent less than oil," it says.

According to the company, the federal stimulus act provides a federal energy tax credit up to $1,500 "for the purchase of a qualifying gas furnace or boiler. Previous federal tax credits were limited to $200."

There also are other incentives and state tax credits for such work. Combining them all, Oregonians through April 30 can receive up to $2,200 in incentives when they install qualifying high-efficiency home heating equipment, and in many cases, the incentives will cover nearly half the total cost of the upgrade, according to the gas company.

Meanwhile, Governor Kulongoski and Attorney General John Kroger are doing what they can to prevent the construction of a liquid natural gas terminal at Bradwood Landing on the Columbia River. Kroger is convinced that domestic supplies are plentiful. And he thinks it makes no sense to import a fossil fuel when we want to lessen our dependence on foreign sources of energy.

The Obama administration is just as committed to the idea of developing new energy sources as the Oregon leaders are. Still, the feds seem to recognize that natural gas has an important role in our energy picture. Otherwise they wouldn't enact tax credits to encourage its use. (hh)