The governors of Oklahoma and Colorado, two states with a vested interest in the natural gas industry, were in Detroit Monday, making the case for why U.S. automakers should produce more natural gas vehicles.

Governors Mary Fallin of Oklahoma and John Hickenlooper of Colorado carved out some time between meetings with General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler Group to talk with Forbes about their campaign to promote natural gas vehicles. “If you squint your eyes, and look at the way the world is, and the way it could be,” said Hickenlooper, “if we had 20% of the country’s vehicles running on natural gas, that helps everybody.” …

Both Hickenlooper and Fallin know that CNG vehicles face a classic “chicken-and-egg” quandary: Consumers won’t buy them if they’re too expensive or too inconvenient to refuel. And carmakers won’t build them without adequate demand.
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