The Pickens bill, dubbed the Nat Gas Act, would provide tax credits of as much as $64,000 for the purchase of natural gas long-haul trucks, and lesser amounts for lighter vehicles.

On Nov. 17, Pickens told Bloomberg News the bill had "more than a 50-50 chance" of passing in the lame-duck session of Congress after that month's midterm elections. In April, he told CNBC the bill had overwhelming support on Capitol Hill.

"Boone has an uncanny ability to predict the energy markets," spokesman Rosser said. "Clearly, predicting what Washington will and won't do is another matter. Boone is an eternal optimist and remains convinced that Washington will act soon and deliver the solution to four decades of failed promises to address the OPEC oil crisis."

Since the lobbying campaign against Pickens began, 14 House Republicans have withdrawn support for the legislation. Representative Todd Akin, a Missouri Republican, grew "increasingly uncomfortable with the level in which the U.S. government would be dictating winners and losers in energy development," spokesman Steve Taylor said in an interview.

Bipartisan Support

The measure is still backed by 108 Democrats and 75 Republicans. That's more bipartisan support than for a proposal to expand offshore drilling that passed the House and failed in the Senate.

"I'm actually beating him," Pickens said of Koch today in an interview at Bloomberg headquarters in New York. "Koch knocked out 14, and we recovered about that."

The fight over the Pickens plan underscores the obstacles energy measures involving subsidies or tax breaks face as Washington's political debate centers on how to reduce the federal deficit.

Companies Split

It also shows a split among companies over what to do with the increasing U.S. natural-gas supply. Natural gas has sold at an average of $4.288 per million British thermal units this year, down from a high of $13.577 in 2008.

The U.S. has 2,543 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural-gas resources, according to the 2011 energy outlook by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That's about 1,000 trillion cubic feet more than its estimate in 2000. Most of the increase comes from projected supplies in shale formations, where the industry is injecting water, chemicals and sand under high pressure to release the gas from the rock.