Who Killed The Electric Car? Page #8

What began as a 25 000 $ tax

break, grew to a 100 000 $

when Congress passed the President's

economic stimulus package last spring.

We think small businesses need

to have support at this time

to keep them afloat, to

keep the economy moving ahead.

But there's an encouragement

for the small business person,

not just to stay afloat, but to go

the biggest gas guzzler there is.

The 6,000-pound car, the biggest.

Does that make sense?

I don't think we can dictate

what vehicles people buy.

- The goal here is...

- This is encouraging them!

You can almost buy the

whole car for the tax break.

I'm not going to concede

that that would be the

way that this would be used...

There is some evidence that

is how they are being used.

I don't know. We'll have

to wait and see what happens.

I don't want to see Hummers driven

off the market by the government.

I want to see everything given

a level, equal chance.

The thing that bothers me is that

it's not a level, equal chance.

We're using our military

to ensure the flow of oil.

We're using tax dollars to support

the car companies in different ways,

and we're not using our tax money to do

the things that we really need to do

to prepare for the future.

Federal policy has always had

tremendous power to shape the future.

As it gave enormous

incentives to buy SUV's

the federal government also sued

California to stop the electric car.

Some pointed to the influence

of the oil and auto industries.

They control things in Washington,

they and the automobile industry.

Now they've got Andy Card there,

former lobbyist, as chief

of staff in the White House.

I guess they don't have to

pay the lobbyists anymore.

So they're saving a little money there.

Andrew Card was chief of staff

when the Bush administration

joined the suit against California.

Card had also been

president and C.E.O.

of the American Automobile

Manufacturers Association

during its campaign to kill

California's electric car mandate.

Industries began to see if we

don't kill this cancer in California,

it's going to spread to

the rest of the country.

I think it became a strategy

on the part of many companies

to make it a national issue.

I was even told once by a very

prominent congressman

who I shall not mention

by name, that

"I could understand and tolerate

what you're doing in California,

"but if you ever try to spread

your California program"

"to the rest of my country,

I'm going to have to do battle with you."

Sometimes, I listen

to the energy debate

and I think I'm watching an old

movie that was made back in the 70's.

Because the discussion is exactly

the same as it was 30 years ago.

Our average vehicle,

average car on the road,

is less efficient than

it was 20 years ago.

And this is just a complete

abdication of leadership.

Political leadership, really.

Because it's impossible to get fuel economy

standards passed through the U.S. Congress.

After the OPEC

oil embargo in the 1970's,

the U.S. government created

Corporate Average Fuel Economy

or CAFE standards, to improve

fuel economy in American vehicles.

As a result, in less than 10 years, fuel

economy increased by more than 50 percent.

Unfortunately, two decades later,

there has been virtually no change.

Jimmy Carter was the last president

that really made

energy a high priority.

He devoted his first 90 days in office

to put together an energy plan.

I was there as part of it.

No president since then

has put that kind of effort into it.

I am tonight setting a clear goal for

the energy policy of the United States.

Beginning this moment, this

nation will never use

more foreign oil than

we did in 1977. Never.

There was a radical change

when Ronald Reagan came in

and took down the solar panels off the

White House roof that Jimmy had put up,

and esentially, declared

war on the sun.

I've put a freeze on pending

regulations and set up a task force

under vice president Bush

to review regulations

with an eye toward getting

rid of as many as possible.

I have de-controlled oil, which should

result in more domestic production

and less dependance

on foreign oil.

When Reagan came in, he was not

a supporter of fuel economy,

of conservation,

of renewables.

In the mid 1980's, he basically

stopped any improvement

in fuel economy

standards for cars.

And then, in 1985,

the prices of oil collapsed.

I would not lay all of the blame

at Ronald Reagan's feet, by any means.

I think he had his share of

responsibility, but so did the Saudis,

who made a very

calculating decision,

to drop the price

of oil dramatically,

principally to ensure that

none of these alternative fuels

and energy saving measures

really produced the desired results.

So they kept the junkie

hooked up, in other words.

And as a result, we are

today still addicted to oil.

When Clinton came in,

and I worked for Clinton,

we were definitely quite interested

in trying to come up with alternatives

and improve the fuel

economy of the fleet.

Politically, it was still very unattractive.

The automobile lobby

was quite powerful then,

so the administration kind of made

a bargain with the automobile companies,

this partnership for

new generation of vehicles

where we would develop

hybrid vehicles,

a combination of a gasoline

engine and an electric drive train.

In return, we wouldn't really

pursue fuel economy standards.

I've never met a five year

old kid like this in my life.

He said:
"I'm glad

to meet you, Mr. President."

"I want you to make a car that runs

on electricity and doesn't pollute the air."

I was so impressed,

I went to get Al Gore

and I introduced him

to this five year old boy,

and he said:
"Hello, Mr. vice prsident.

I intend to spend my life working on this."

"I am going to help you

develop an electric car"

"that has no pollution."

Al Gore says:
"That means

we're going to be partners."

He said:
"Yes, I guess so."

"But you don't understand. I'm

going to spend my whole life on this."

For 8-9 years, we've spent about

a billion dollars of taxpayers' money

to develop hybrid vehicles.

Ironically, the U.S. car companies

didn't put any hybrids on the road.

In fact, the minute George Bush

got elected president,

the U.S. car companies

walked away from hybrids.

But, and this is the irony,

the U.S. program got the

Japanese very nervous.

So Toyota and Honda, in

response, developed hybrids,

because they didn't

want to be beaten by the U.S.

Now, they lure people into

thinking they're doing something

but they sweet-talk.

I remember way back we

used to have this joke,

but it's not a joke anymore.

We're giving the environmentalists

the music and the industry the action.

The second step toward making

America less dependant on foreign oil

is to produce and refine

more crude oil here at home

in environmentally

sensitive ways.

By far the most promising

site for oil in America

is the Arctic National

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