Billionaire energy investor T. Boone Pickens is launching a new TV ad in the hope that alternative energy reform will take center stage as health care debates wind down.

The ad, which debuts today, touts the NAT GAS Act of 2009, which would create tax credits to encourage alternative fuel use and require government fleets to begin switching to natural gas vehicles. The ad, sponsored by the Pickens Plan advocacy group, will run for 10 days nationwide and for three weeks in Washington.

"We believe this is the number one post-health care issue," Pickens said in a conference call Wednesday. "This is an election year, and members need a positive pro-American bill they can tell their constituencies about. This will create green jobs in many of the areas that badly need it.... This year is a singular political opportunity, and this move that in particular in supporting fuel for heavy duty trucks has bipartisan support in both houses of Congress."

The bill is inspired by a program initiated by the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles that offered cash rebates to trucking companies for replacing their diesel-burning 18-wheelers with natural-gas trucks. Pickens said that should be a model for reform.

"Lighter trucks will take more time," said Pickens. "I'd just as soon see lighter truck fleets go to [green batteries] eventually."

John Podesta, president of the liberal Center for American Progress, noted that America imports approximately $1 billion worth of oil every day.

"With respect to using natural gas, the engine and the technology already exist," said Podesta. "I believe you could cut [reliance on] OPEC in half if you focused on the heavy duty trucks."

Pickens and Podesta also discussed what's ahead for energy if it gets the next big reform push after health care, as Pickens hopes. One of the more contentious parts of the debate is whether the EPA would step in to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act if Congress doesn't agree on a plan; Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, is considering legislative options for curbing the EPA's ability to do that.

"At this point I see no chance of [a Murkowksi amendment] becoming law," Podesta said. "It's being raised at this time as a political distraction. It's time we got some bipartisan solutions going to get away from dependence on foreign oil."

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