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

Jim:        In this incredibly difficult... incredibly misleading market... because the prices just swing on no volume... you've got to fall back on the long-term themes that will likely pull through no matter what happens internationally, which is what's driving our markets right now.

And there are very few themes that we like more than natural gas... the energy source that's 40% cleaner than coal, 30% cleaner than oil, and much more realistic as a bridge fuel, than wind or solar, when it comes to combating climate change or ending our addiction to foreign oil... especially since we have so darn much of the stuff in the country. And, because it could create hundreds of thousands of jobs building out natural gas infrastructure.

Natural gas stocks have been some of the most amazing outperformers in the market for the last two decades. But now we have to worry that they could soon hit a wall... a wall called Washington.

To listen to President Obama, who absolutely adores the chimera of "clean coal"... an oxymoron if there ever was one... or if you read his budget... you wouldn't even know natural gas exists, except for something to be taxed. Luckily there are some good guys in Washington when it comes to the need to adopt natural gas.

One of them is a man by the name of John Sullivan. He's the Republican Congressman from Oklahoma's 1st District.

We learned first hand the importance of natural gas to the great state of Oklahoma when we visited Oklahoma University's Price School of Business on our Back to School Tour, back in October, where we could see that the state is really, really wealthy, and it allows kids to go to school at a much lower price than most states, because it's got so much oil and gas. Oklahoma accounts for about 10% of our country's total natural gas production, so Sullivan understands the importance of this fuel.

He's already pushed a bill that would expand research and development into natural gas engines through the House of Representatives, and he's the lead Republican sponsor and co-author of the Natural Gas Act... a piece of legislation that would do wonders for the industry by creating tax credits for auto makers who make natural gas fueled cars and trucks available in America, as well as to the consumers who buy them. This is the act that Boone Pickens came on the show and said would be passed by Memorial Day...

Given the number of obstacles to natural gas futures coming out... the future coming out of Washington... from cap and trade, to attempts to over-regulate hydraulic "fracking" which is how you get the stuff out, we need to understand the political lay of the land, and I can't think of anyone better positioned to help us than Congressman John Sullivan of Oklahoma...

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Jim:        Representative Sullivan, welcome to Mad Money...

Sullivan:    Thank you Jim. It's an honor to be here.

Jim:    Okay... I need your help. Many of the great executives in the natural gas industry have told me that it's just a matter of time before the President comes around to this view. They told me this in September... they told me this right before the State of the Union... and they told me this right before the budget. Uh, I don't see it that way, and I know from your lead off from the House Select Committee on Energy that you too are kind of mystified. Could you please tell me what is happening in Washington, that this fuel seems to be in last place, after wind, after solar, after oil and, incredibly... after coal?

Sullivan:    Well, like you said earlier, natural gas needs to be the bridge fuel as we look at an "all of the above" energy strategy... looking at wind, solar, nuclear... all those things... coal... all those things need to be looked at, but they aren't going to happen for a long time. The alternative energy sources aren't going to happen for a long time. So using natural gas makes all the sense in the world. Barack Obama has paid lip service to it in meetings, but he publicly has not said much. I thought, in his State of the Union address... and you did too Jim... that he was going to mention something on natural gas, and he just... he failed to do so. We have 120 years of reserves of natural gas here in the United States of America. It's abundant. It's American-made. We can lessen our dependence on foreign oil if we use it here. I mean, we're giving money to people who want to terrorize us. We can use it right here. We need to get more natural gas vehicles on the roads here in the United States. There are 10 million natural gas vehicles around the world... in Latin America, Asia and Europe... Only 150,000 here in the United States. We need to get it going, man.

Jim:    Now, one of the things that... you know, look, I've got to tell you, because I soul search about this everyday, because remember, we even had the incoming director of the Sierra Club come on and say exactly what you are saying, and this is the Sierra Club... I mean, aren't they supposed to be worried about the environment? Yeah. They think this is a natural. But I actually see things going backward. I pick up the paper, and there's almost an article every other day... particularly in the New York Times... about how the kind of drilling that has been done for the last 40 years, say, in this country, is about to spoil our drinking water. You actually raised the question in the key Exxon/XTO merger hearings about the idea that the EPA could get rid of the Safe Drinking Water Act exemption, which could really pretty much shut down drilling everywhere... except for Oklahoma because you've got some preemption. Is it possible that the EPA is going to come in and start regulating this when they don't have the right to do it?

Sullivan:    It's a back door attempt to try to get at the industry. You know, like you said Jim, hydraulic fracking is one of the ways we've been able to get these 120 years of reserves. You know, shale drilling... horizontal drilling... going down, going sideways, very precise, and hydraulic fracking... shooting fluid down in the formation, cracking the rock and getting the gas out.

Jim:    Right.

Sullivan:    For 60 years, they've been using it. There's not one... not one instance where it's leaked into ground water. It's absolutely asinine that they're trying to do this.

Jim:    But how can that be? The New York Times has a story every other day saying it had to be doing it!

Sullivan:    No. It's not. It's not. There's not one instance of it.

Jim:    Well, they can't be making it up! It wouldn't get passed the editors!

Sullivan:    They are making it up... they are making it up! And the Exxon Mobile/XTO merger... that was contingent that this will not pass or Exxon Mobile will back out of the deal. And you know what? If we get on natural gas... and I'm glad, Jim, that you're a crusader on this, because we need you so badly... you and Boone Pickens are helping a lot on this... but we need... It's going to create jobs in America...

Jim:    I know!

Sullivan:    Barack Obama's talking about government jobs. These are private sector jobs. There are 3 million people that work in the natural gas industry. If we pass these bills in congress and get an infrastructure built up like you said, we could create a million, two million jobs more in America. That'd be great.

Jim:    Right.

Sullivan:    Also, it's a national security issue. We need to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. It's got to stop.

Jim:    Well, could you help me? We've been trying... and, again, I play with an open hand on the show... We've been trying to get one single senator in the United States... and I think there's like a hundred of them... There has got to be one senator that's willing to come on Mad Money and say that he thinks natural gas could be important. We can't find him. I mean, it's like, Where's Waldo?... I mean, where do we find that senator?

Sullivan:    Well, we need to. We need to have senate leadership on this issue, and in the House, and I'm working hard in the House. I'm shouting from the rooftops. I'm glad I've gotten to get on your show. We're going to do all we can to get out there. You, Jim... again, thanks for your leadership on this...

Jim:    No problem!..

Sullivan:    And T. Boone Pickens has helped a lot too. He's endorsed my plan. It's a bill that's on the Pickens Plan. He's been a tremendous help too. Thank God for him.

Jim:    You know, Aubrey McClennan (CEO of Chesapeake Energy) said some stuff last week. He said, "...and I just don't know how a great of people, as smart as the people we've elected to lead this country are, can ignore what I think is one of the greatest technological advances of our time." Is it possible that the technology has happened so quickly that maybe there are people who don't know we have these resources because, you know, I'm looking at these articles about how we're going to bring in Alaskan natural gas. Alaskan natural gas is a fraction of what we have in Pennsylvania, so maybe people just don't get it yet?

Sullivan:    They don't get it. I mean, it's not the technological advances. Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracking has been going on for a long time. We need to develop this. I mean, this is a national security issue. It's going to create jobs. Aubrey McClennan at Chesapeake's right. Larry Nichols at Devon Energy is right. Randy Fauch at Laredo... These guys are leaders and they're trying to get the message out. There is a new group in Washington called Angan American National Gas Association. They're going to try really hard to get the message out. I've met with them. We're going to work hard to get this out. But it's going to take people like you, Jim... me... and others in Congress...

Jim:    I'm just a cable TV host.

Sullivan:    What's that?

Jim:    I'm just a cable TV host, man.

Sullivan:    Well, you have a big following here in Tulsa, and you have a big following around the country. I know that.

Jim:    Okay, appreciate it. Well look, if you can find us a senator, I'll take any senator. You know, I'll take... anybody... I don't want to name anybody... happy to have one!

Sullivan:    Keep up the good work, Jim.

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[verbatim recap]

[end of segment]

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