As part of a broader strategy to take advantage of our nation's natural gas reserves, President Obama announced plans to offer a tax credit for natural gas-burning trucks at a speech in Las Vegas on Thursday. "First, let’s get more of these natural gas vehicles on the road," Obama said, speaking at UPS Headquarters. "Second, let’s offer new tax incentives to help companies buy more clean trucks like these," he added, referring to the brown, natural gas-powered trucks that flanking him. It's a clear follow up to the president's call for natural gas to power America's energy needs, but somehow Obama manages never to say the one word that describes exactly how we're going to get that gas out of the ground: Fracking.

Hydraulic fracturing—the controversial method for natural gas extraction from shale rock known more commonly as "fracking"—is a politically touchy topic to bring up, especially since the Environmental Protection Agency condemned the practice last month. (You might've heard about fracking last year when all of those people were setting their tap water on fire.) Obama's shrewd to focus on the positive aspects of natural gas, as when he said in an interview Wednesday, "We think that we're going to be looking at 600,000 jobs in natural gas extraction here in the United States and all the industries that come with it." During his state of the Union address, the president alluded to how this actually happens, "It was public research dollars, over the course of thirty years, that helped develop the technologies to extract all this natural gas out of shale rock, reminding us that Government support is critical in helping businesses get new energy ideas off the ground."

But of course, he didn't say "frack."

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.
Adam Clark Estes