Saturday, November 3, 2012

Natural Gas Act: Why Billionaire Investors Support the Bill


This past April, President Obama visited a UPS factory in Maryland praising Westport Innovation’s natural gas powered engines as part of his infamous Green Fleet Initiative.

Shortly thereafter, Mr. Obama said that Kevin G. Douglas –Wesport’s most powerful individual shareholder—donated more than $30,000 to the president and the Democratic National Committee.

Interestingly enough, the House of Representatives filed the Natural Gas Act right around the same time (Obama visited UPS on April 1 and the bill was filed April 6).

In summary, the bill will offer tax breaks for companies using natural gas vehicles, fueling stations, and storage facilities for five years. 

Investors within the Vancouver LNG-engine firm are positioned to reap big benefits from the latest subsidy propositions...

Westport CEO David R. Demers is excited to take advantage of the Natural Gas Act when it is officially passed in Congress:

“We are thrilled to have President Obama encouraging the use of natural gas,” he said. “Westport is strategically positioned to support the President's initiatives.”

Westport has three engine manufacturing partnerships in China, according to the company's federal filings.

Federal filings also show that Soros Fund Management, the investment vehicle controlled by billionaire and longtime Democratic donor George Soros, owns more than three million shares in the Vancouver, British Columbia-based distributor of LNG engines. It is a position worth more than $90 million, as of the Feb. 14 market close.

Additionally, George Soros has donated $5,000 to the bill's co-sponsor and another generous $75,000 to the Democrat's House Majority PAC – a super political action committee – which was established shortly after Obama met with UPS in April (April 8).

One of Mr. Soros's portfolio managers, Mr. Alexander Cohn, donated $1,000 of his own money to the primary sponsor of the Natural Gas Act, Senator Robert J. Menendez (D-N.J.).

Soros has already made more than $60 million profits selling shares and he could make another $60 million profit were he to get liquid on his entire remaining block, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

 

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