Corbett Administration Signs Four-State Natural Gas Agreement

Scott Detrow

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Scott Detrow is a congressional correspondent for NPR. He also co-hosts the NPR Politics Podcast.

Detrow joined NPR in 2015 to cover the presidential election. He focused on the Republican side of the 2016 race, spending time on the campaign trail with Donald Trump, and also reported on the election's technology and data angles.

Detrow worked as a statehouse reporter for member stations WITF in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and KQED in San Francisco, California. He has also covered energy policy for NPR's StateImpact project, where his reports on Pennsylvania's hydraulic fracturing boom won a DuPont-Columbia and national Edward R. Murrow Award in 2013.

November 9, 2011 | 2:40 PM

Scott Detrow / StateImpact Pennsylvania

Governor Corbett tours Pittsburgh's Carpenters Training Center

The Corbett Administration’s push to expand natural gas consumption is reaching beyond Pennsylvania’s border, according to this press release:

Governor Corbett Signs Agreement with Governors of Colorado, Oklahoma and Wyoming to Develop Natural Gas Vehicles, Needed Infrastructure
Harrisburg – Governor Tom Corbett announced today he has signed a memorandum of understanding with the governors of Colorado, Oklahoma and Wyoming that will encourage U.S. auto manufacturers to develop new natural gas-powered vehicles.

The states have agreed to work toward switching their vehicle fleets to cleaner-burning natural gas. They will also develop a joint request for proposal to the auto industry to combine the four states’ future vehicle purchases, which will help to increase demand for such vehicles in the marketplace.
“Natural gas has created tens of thousands of jobs in Pennsylvania and can create hundreds of thousands more in this country once we’ve developed the right infrastructure,” Corbett said. “I am pleased to work with Governors Hickenlooper, Fallin and Mead to improve our nation’s energy security.”
The memorandum notes the four governors’ concern that more than 60 percent of the nation’s oil, a majority of which is used as transportation fuel, is imported. As a result, the transportation sector is at constant risk from market volatility, supply shortages and geopolitical uncertainties.
Corbett has agreed to work with Colorado, Oklahoma and Wyoming to promote cost parity for consumers seeking to purchase natural gas vehicles by aggregating their states’ purchases of vehicles.
“Pennsylvania has always led on energy issues, and I am pleased that we will continue to lead by fostering demand for this abundant, clean-burning and domestic resource,” Corbett said.