Electrification Coalition: It Is Time To End The Pattern of Failure on Energy Security

WASHINGTON, June 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Robbie Diamond, President of the Electrification Coalition (EC), released the following statement in response to President Obama's prime-time address on the Gulf spill and energy issues:

"Every president since Richard Nixon has pledged to end this nation's addiction to oil, and all of them have failed. President Obama can break that cycle of failure, but only if he and congressional leaders implement policies to electrify our cars and trucks, which alone account for almost 70 percent of the oil we use every day. Republicans and Democrats in Congress already have begun to unite around legislation to expedite the successful deployment of electric vehicles. That proposal must be part of any energy bill that passes this year; otherwise, we will have failed once again."

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).

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