Thursday, March 08, 2012

Obama Calls for New $1B Program to Promote ‘Alternative’ Vehicles + API Not Happy w. Obama

President Barack Obama used his visit to a North Carolina truck manufacturer on Wednesday to announce a $1 billion program to promote electric and other alternative vehicles through tax incentives for consumers and federal grants to states to finance infrastructure to support them. The “National Community Deployment Challenge” includes incentives for individuals and businesses to buy “advanced cars and trucks” through a $10,000 tax credit – up from the $7,500 allowed under current tax law. The plan also includes a “Race to the Top” contest that would award grants to states with “model communities” that invest in the infrastructure to support those vehicles, such as charging stations or natural gas corridors “where alternative fuel trucks can transport goods without using a drop of oil,” the White House Press Fact Sheet on the program states...more

The API isn't happy with Obama.  The article also has this, which includes some interesting stats:

At the same hour that Obama was making his announcement in the swing state of North Carolina, the House Subcommittee on Energy and Power was holding a hearing on causes of the high gas prices facing U.S. consumers – up from under $2 when the president took office to almost $4 in most states today. Jack Gerard, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, said the administration claim of an “all-of-the-above” approach to energy policy does not seem to include oil and gas. “The administration says it is for more oil and gas, but rejects the Keystone XL pipeline,” Gerard said. “It says it is boosting domestic production onshore, but new leasing on federal lands is down 44 percent, and the number of new wells drilled is down 39 percent.
“It says it is opening offshore areas but the latest plan keeps 87 percent of these areas off limits,” Gerard said. “It says oil and gas activity in the Gulf of Mexico is back to normal, but the latest forecast says production this year will be down nearly 21 percent from 2010. “It says it is for natural gas, but 10 federal agencies are looking at new regulations that could needlessly restrict it,” Gerard said. “It calls for “all-of-the-above” then threatens the companies that could lead an energy renaissance with $85 billion in discriminatory tax increases,” Gerard said...

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