EC: An Energy Bill That Does Not Include Electrification Will Not Improve Energy Security

WASHINGTON, July 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Robbie Diamond, president of the Electrification Coalition, released the following statement today in response to news reports outlining the energy bill expected to reach the Senate floor next week:

"The Senate is making a dramatic mistake if the energy bill that is debated next week does not include the bipartisan electrification provisions that only yesterday were overwhelmingly voted out of committee. After the last three months of watching oil spill into the Gulf, it would be stunning if the energy bill does not include electrification, which represents the only way to fundamentally affect our oil consumption. Republicans and Democrats alike support electrification, and they should have the opportunity to vote on it. An oil bill that does not include electrification cannot truly be said to improve our energy security."

On May 27, Republicans and Democrats in both the House and the Senate introduced legislation designed to advance the wide-scale deployment of electric vehicles and to develop the infrastructure needed to support them. The Senate bill, entitled the "Electric Vehicle Deployment Act of 2010" was introduced by Senators Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR). The House legislation, entitled the "Electric Drive Vehicle Deployment Act of 2010," was cosponsored by House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming Chairman Ed Markey (D-MA), Rep. Judy Biggert (R-IL), Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), and Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-CA). A version of the legislation was approved by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on an overwhelming bipartisan 19-4 vote on July 21.

The legislation echoes recommendations put forward by the Electrification Coalition, a nonpartisan, not-for-profit group of business leaders committed to promoting policies and actions that facilitate the deployment of electric vehicles on a mass scale in order to combat the economic, environmental, and national security dangers caused by our nation's dependence on petroleum. The EC's Electrification Roadmap, released in November 2009, proposed a set of policies in which geographic areas would compete to be selected as electrification deployment communities: specific areas in which targeted, temporary financial incentives are employed so that all of the elements of an electrified transportation system are deployed simultaneously.

SOURCE Electrification Coalition