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From Dick Morris:
While President Bush hunts the terrorists down and pressures nation-states to give up their sponsorship of terror gangs, Schwarzenegger is working to solve the problem of Islamic terrorism once and for all – by ending our dependence on foreign oil and stopping the worldwide economic and climatic distortions that global oil usage causes.
He’s doing it by providing aggressive state leadership to open the way for hydrogen fuel cell cars. While President Bush speaks of the advent of these vehicles in the indefinite future, Gov. Schwarzenegger is bringing them to the here and now by converting gas stations along California’s interstate highways to provide hydrogen fuel as well as gasoline.
With financing projected to come one-third each from federal, state and private sources, California will offer hydrogen fuel every few miles in urban areas and at least every 20 miles along the highway system by 2010. Eventually, he and the leaders of Washington, Oregon, Baja California and British Columbia will work together to create a “hydrogen highway” that will run from B.C. (British Columbia) to B.C. (Baja California).
The Schwarzenegger plan calls for state-subsidized production of hydrogen and for tax incentives for those who purchase hydrogen cars.
Replacing gasoline engines with hydrogen-fuel cells would eliminate two-thirds of America’s need for oil – a demand that we could meet entirely with domestically produced oil.
Since California accounts for 20 percent of U.S. new-car purchases, the tail will wag the dog and a national hydrogen grid will become almost inevitable.
The effects on our relationships in the Mid-East would be substantial. Nations that sponsor terrorists would know that they can’t hope to blackmail us with the threat of an oil shock.
It looks like the car companies are on board:
“There are no game-breakers that we can’t overcome,” said Dave Barthmuss of GM.
The biggest challenge, he said, is developing a system of safe and convenient refueling stations without needing attendants dressed in white Haz-Mat suits.
Motorists “need to be able to drive from San Diego to San Francisco without worrying about running out of juice,” Barthmuss said.
The oil companies appear to be wisely seeking to profit from this new technology, rather than to make the error of trying to suppress it:
Oil companies are working to cash in, aiming to open hydrogen pumps next to regular, unleaded and super.
“Hydrogen and fuel cell vehicles will grow to become an important part of the future global energy and transport mix,” Jeremy Bentham, chief of Shell Hydrogen, said in a speech this summer.
“Governments now recognize that clear public benefits and international momentum has already been generated,” he added. But, at a price. Shell Hydrogen estimates that it will cost $20 billion to build a reliable and convenient fueling network throughout the United States.
Rising gas prices are powering the push for hydrogen:
Said [Schwarzenegger adviser] Tamminen: “The biggest ad for hydrogen is when you pass gas stations and the price is approaching $3 a gallon.
“Every 25-cent-a-gallon increase brings us a year closer to hydrogen realization.”
As my friend Chris Cook pointed out yesterday, if the Conservatives take the lead on the environment, the Libs will have almost nothing left on which to claim leadership.
The home page for the California Hydrogen Highway is here.
