Venezuela's Chavez provides citizens with free natural gas vehicles

October 17, 1:32 PMDallas Environmental Policy ExaminerCaroline Calais

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Although a 12 cents a gallon price on gasoline may not persuade many Venezuelan’s of shifting to alternative fuel sources,  saving petroleum and combating environmental pollution possibly will. In a program to exchange old gasoline consumer vehicles for free compressed natural gas (CNG) ones, president Chavez takes one step closer to making the Bolivarian revolution also an environmental one. 

Venezuela, holding the eighth largest natural gas reserve, and being the world’s fifth largest oil exporter, is now requiring the automobile sector to dedicate 30 % of their production to natural gas vehicles, an amount that may rise to 40 % by 2010, and 50% by 2011.

And with a government decree stipulating that PDVSA, the state run Venezuelan oil company, will pay for the acquisition, installation and maintenance of the required gas cylinders, General Motors (GM) is now planning to start an annual production of 40,000 natural gas vehicles.