[Beginning of Cramer's verbatim comments for this segment...]

Jim:        Someone knows something about natural gas... someone knows something I don't know. I mean, that's what I have to think when I see the stocks going higher... despite the underlying commodity going lower... I mean, the stocks are going, "buy, buy, buy!" And natural gas is going "sell, sell, sell!"...

Could there be something going on with natural gas as a fuel? Maybe outfitting gas stations... cars... so that they can run on something that's maybe 20% cleaner than crude? Maybe more...

That's what I think when I look at the run that Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (CLNE) has had. This is a stock that I've liked as a spec for a long time. It's up 171% since the last time I spoke to the CEO, on November 20th... when it was at $3.49.

CLNE is THE play on using natural gas as a fuel in this country... What a move it's had. But, of course, a spiteful person - like I once was - can say, c'mon Jim, you liked it in the teens a couple of years ago... I've liked it all over the place. You'd be right. But it's had a super climb from the bottom and now, maybe opportunity knocking, down 71 cents today, to $9.46... in the miserable trading session we had.

Alright, for the longest time, no one in Washington would embrace natural gas... Fossil fuel!... And there was a... if not a full-blown Jihad against fossil fuels... even cleaner ones, like natural gas... The democrats didn't want to get their hands dirty with something that wasn't wind or solar. Never mind that we needed transition fuel, if we want to do something about climate change... in the decades before truly renewable fuels can start making a difference... until they can put that windmill on your trunk...

Plus, the coal lobby... both democrats and republicans... a lot more powerful than the natural gas lobby... So in this weird world, where we embrace the cleanest and the dirtiest, but nothing in between... At long last though, it looks like the attitude in Washington is changing... Maybe the natural gas companies hired some better lobbyists... to spread more money around... I don't know. Something's doing something... I'd be happy to waive my usual consultation fee, if we get with the program... That's a joke. I don't have one.

Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid's annual "Clean Energy Summit" in Las Vegas, took place. Natural gas is getting a lot more attention out there. Even Al Gore seemed to acknowledge "the inconvenient truth" that we're going to need to embrace a fuel that's just "less dirty" before we can get clean. My take? Let's hope that what happens in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas, for a change... And maybe the word goes beyond the Bellagio...

There might even be the political support to get natural gas through congress... oh wow... Among other things, the bill that's on the table would require an extension of existing credits for natural gas as a transportation fuel. It would provide a tax credit for the purchase of a natural gas vehicle. It would require that half of the vehicles that the government purchases, over the next five years, to be natural gas fueled.

Hmm... This legislation would be huge for Clean Energy Fuels... the largest chain of natural gas filling stations in the country... not to mention the natural gas companies... If this gets passed, they're all going to be good.

The big question I have is, have the political winds changed for the fuel? Are the democrats finally willing to do something smart here? I don't know...

Hey, but I know someone who would...

Andrew Littlefair, the CEO of Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (CLNE)...

Jim:    Andrew, welcome back to Mad Money...

Andrew:    Well thanks for having me back Jim. It's better to be here at $9 (per share price) than at $3.49...

Jim:    I think I can give you a big booyah on that, actually. Alright now, I am by nature, because I've done okay in the stock market... a suspicious and skeptical person... I look, and have been telling my staff, and come out here every night... and say I can't understand... natural gas at $3.50, but the stocks have been on a tear. Somebody knows that natural gas is going to become a preferred fuel. I look to you, sir, as the person who might know what's going on.

Andrew:    I think you're right in your intro, Jim, that there has been a change in Washington... and I was there yesterday with Vice President Gore and Senator Reid and a whole host of others... President Clinton, Boone Pickens... and, you know, all of them seem to believe now that we ought to move to natural gas for heavy duty vehicles as a bridge. You know, Boone had it right yesterday... There are 3 million 18-wheelers in the United States moving our precious goods around the United States. If those went to natural gas and, of course, that won't happen overnight... that would reduce 2.7 million barrels of oil that we import every day... out of the 12-13 million that we import...

Jim:    Every day?...

Andrew:    Every day, every day...

Jim:    Now, how much has "cash for clunkers" reduced? Is it like 2.7 million a year?...

Andrew:    Yeah, yeah... it pales in comparison. Remember, an average passenger vehicle uses 600 gallons a year... 660... and an 18-wheeler uses 20,000 gallons. So, if we want to do something for climate change... natural gas is 26% better on climate change... and reduce foreign oil... this is where you go. And I think, actually, it's beginning to get traction. You're right. The Natural Gas Act has been introduced in the Senate and in the House, and has 75 co-sponsors... Uh, Senator Reid just sent a letter out, and made a public statement, saying he'd like to have it as a standalone bill. I don't know if that'll happen or not... it will obviously happen after the recess... we'll see... but you know, a lot has changed over the year.

Jim:    Alright, Andrew... I have not yet heard the President, who talks a lot about arcane issues, whether it be the credit card companies or the healthcare... I have have never heard him utter those two words together, which is "natural" and "gas"...

Andrew:    Well, you know, I haven't heard the President speak about it as much. We've got leadership in Congress now. I know Boone has met with President Obama on the subject, and seemed to understand it... His Secretary of Energy, Chou, seems to need a little work on it...

Jim:    Yeah, oh yeah...

Andrew:    ...but he's not quite there yet. But I think we're going to get there Jim.

Jim:    Does anyone in congress know that there's huge... particularly, say, from Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia, North Dakota, South Dakota, Arkansas, Texas... Do they know that they are sitting on millions of jobs, if they push this through?

Andrew:    Right, if you just did 350... I think they do now. I think that, finally, Washington has figured out that we have a lot of natural gas. I mean, it's a total game changer, right? Here we have this domestic clean resource that we have, that we can produce versus the foreign oil. Listen to this one, Jim... If you just did 350,000 heavy duty trucks... so let's just say you do that over three years, but I think you could do it faster, but that's modest... that would create 450,000 jobs over three years. It would replace 5 billion gallons of diesel a year. I mean, no other alternative fuel that we have is ready today...

Jim:    But, you know, I've been speaking to natural gas executives for two years and no one's listened. You know, when did Gore get on board?

Andrew:    You know he, working with Boone, the Vice President has come around... he's figured out we have batteries... he likes the battery for the small vehicle...

Jim:    We all love batteries...

Andrew:    We all love that, but you don't have that technology ready for a Wal-Mart truck... and he gets that now... and he said it yesterday... and he said, Boone, I'm with you now with natural gas as the bridge... and that bridge is probably good for 20 years...

Jim:    I agree... I think you're going to need it. Okay, so now you just raised $73 million in stock. Obviously, if Congress passes this, you are the huge beneficiary. But we can't expect Exxon to switch, right? I mean, we'd have to build all new stations. They have so much vested in gasoline...

Andrew:    Right. And so I think the way this is going to work right now is it's going to move for the heavy duty, and so it's not going to be Exxon and Chevron, because they fuel light duty vehicles. They may get with it later, but you're going to put natural gas in at truck stops, is what's going to happen. That's how it's going to start...

Jim:    Can you do that? Do you any sort of agreement? Do you have agreements to do that?...

Andrew:    We're working on that right now... yeah, yeah... That's the next phase that we're working on. You know, we've built... we just finished the largest LNG (liquid natural gas) truck stop in the Port of Los Angeles... You know, there's 500 LNG trucks hauling Nike shoes and Target goods out of the Port of L.A. everyday, so this stuff works. And now, Swift Trucking and J.B. Hunt and Wal-Mart and Pepsi-Cola... they're all testing this...

Jim:    I love it...

Andrew:    They know it's going to work...

Jim:    Alright, Andrew Littlefair, thank you for coming on. Thank you for... Look, this isn't about proselytizing... the show is about a lot of different things. I see a trend. I want people in it. So far, it hasn't worked. I feel emboldened after speaking with you. Thank you so much sir... good to have you...

Andrew:    Alright, okay. Thanks Jim.

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Jim's comments AFTER the interview:     The stock is Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (CLNE). Once again, I'm going to issue only a warning... it is a speculative stock. If you agree with me that natural gas will be our preferred fuel in 2013-14 for cars, though, this is a better deal than Exxon.

[verbatim recap]

[end of segment]

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