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WYDEN AMENDMENT TO PROMOTE
HYBRID VEHICLES ADDED TO SENATE ENERGY BILL
Senator’s amendment would allow for vehicle
purchase credits
for hybrids vehicles, extend Federal alternative fuel vehicle
program
May 18, 2005
Washington, DC – An amendment
offered by U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) to promote the government’s
use of gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles was included today in
the comprehensive energy legislation currently being considered
by the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
The amendment, now a part of the Senate’s energy bill, would
give government agencies and fleet operators credits toward alternative
fuel vehicle purchase requirements for the purchase of hybrid
vehicles. Additionally, the Wyden amendment extends the Federal
alternative fuel vehicle program, which requires Federal, state
and local agencies that operate fleets of vehicles to purchase
a minimum percentage of alternative fuel vehicles. Before Wyden’s
amendment was adopted, this fleet requirement was set to expire
in 2010, with no plans for further requirements before 2015.
“The Federal government
ought to use its significant purchasing power to promote the use
of hybrid vehicles that we know can directly contribute to America’s
independence from foreign oil,” said Wyden. “This
amendment is a step toward well-balanced energy legislation that
meets America’s needs for the 21st century.”
Under the first provision of
the Wyden amendment, the Secretary of Energy would determine the
amount of credit to give hybrids and other vehicles, so that Federal
agencies and other fleet operators could have the flexibility
to choose among a variety of vehicles to meet their needs and
their alternative vehicle purchase requirements. Under current
energy policy, hybrid vehicles with mileage rates as high as 70
miles per gallon during highway driving are disqualified as counting
toward energy efficiency fleet requirements because they do not
use alternative fuel. However, hybrid vehicles that are already
on the road can achieve fuel efficiencies that are more than twice
the current Corporate Average Fuel Economy standard.
The second provision of the
Wyden amendment closes an energy savings gap that would have opened
in 2010, after which there would have been no alternative vehicle
purchase requirement for government fleets until 2015. Without
the Wyden amendment, for those five years, Federal agencies would
have been able to purchase hundreds of thousands of gasoline power
vehicles instead of alternative fueled vehicles.
The Electric Drive Transportation
Association (EDTA) this week announced its support for the Wyden
amendment: “Senator Wyden’s amendment is an important
step for electric drive technologies and our national energy policy,”
says Brian Wynne, President of EDTA. “We applaud the Senator's
tireless commitment to make sustainable mobility a reality in
the United States.”
The Senate Energy and Natural
Resources Committee currently is considering the comprehensive
energy bill; once approved, the legislation will move to the full
Senate for its consideration.
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