Jon Stewart Spends 22 Minutes With T. Boone Pickens, "The Wilt Chamberlain of Fracking"

Speaking of vehicles powered by compressed natural gas ...

Mayor Tom Leppert was deeply involved in the Dallas Area Rapid Transit board's decision (after much debate and delay) to spend $210 million to convert its liquefied natural gas and clean diesel bus fleet to CNG. Mayor Tom was also deeply involved in getting CNG-powered taxis front-of-the-line privileges at Love Field, much to the chagrin of Super Bowl-striking cabbies who say they can't afford the thousands necessary to make the switch.

And standing behind Mayor Tom each step of the way was T. Boone Pickens, the oil man-turned-natural gas champion and a major contributor to the mayor's campaign who, as The Wall Street Journal pointed out only yesterday, operates three natural-gas fueling stations at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, which also allows CNG cabs to hop to the front of the line. The independent taxi drivers have sued DFW, The Journal notes, claiming "the real goal [of the policy] was to benefit the natural-gas companies," chief among then Pickens' Clean Energy Fuels Corp.

Then there's the whole question of drilling for natural gas within the Dallas city limits -- but, look, the Internet doesn't have the space to recap that. But on that subject, the Dallas billionaire with his Pickens Plan insists: "I've never seen anything damaged" by fracking. He said that last night on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. I saw the seven or so minutes that aired on Comedy Central. But Stewart asked Pickens to stay for an additional five, which he'd then post to the Internet. The total interview ran 22 minutes. And every one of 'em is on the other side.