PHEV Advanced in House of Representatives Last Week

The article is here at this link:

http://www.calcars.org/calcars-news/782.html

Here is a copy from the above link:


PHEV Advanced in House of Representatives Last Week
Jun 30, 2007 (From the CalCars-News archive)

Last week, an amendment including much of the DRIVE Act's provisions,
by Reps. Eliot Engel and Jay Inslee, passed the House Energy and
Commerce Committee. Six Republicans joined the Democrats in voting for it.

And an amendment by Reps. Inslee, Engel and Jane Harman also passed
-- establishing a 5,000 vehicle plug-in HEV conversion pilot program
(five cities /1,000 conversions per city!) The next steps for the
coalition will focus on the tax credits side.

Green Car Congress's Michael Millikin has done a great job
summarizing the latest developments. We reprint that below followed
by information about who's on the House Committee and how to contact them.

House Energy Package Heading to Floor Dodges CAFE, Offers Incentives
for Plug-in Hybrids
Green Car Congress 29 June 2007
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2007/06/house-energy-pa.html

The leadership of the US House of Representatives yesterday staged a
press event to broadly discuss the package of energy legislation that
is on its way for consideration in the full House floor in July,
after appropriations measures are finished.

The package does not contain vehicle fuel-efficiency standards.
During the event, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John
Dingell (D-MI) noted that the question over altering fuel economy
rules (CAFE) will re-emerge in the climate change/global warming
legislation that his committee will tackle beginning in September.
However, one of the elements of the legislation currently heading to
the floor is a bill to promote plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and components.

The component of the package for plug-ins and electric transportation:

* Establishes a loan guarantee program for the construction of
advanced battery manufacturing facilities.
* Amends the language in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that
provides manufacturing conversion grants for hybrid-electric vehicles
to include plug-in hybrids and components.
* Establishes a program to provide grants on a cost-shared basis
to State governments, local governments, metropolitan transportation
authorities, air pollution control districts, private or nonprofit
entities or combinations thereof, to carry out projects to encourage
the use of plug-in electric drive vehicles or other emerging electric
vehicle technologies.
* Provides incentives for federal and state fleets for medium-
and heavy-duty hybrids.
* Amends the Energy Policy Act of 1992 to include a number of
forms of electric drive vehicles, including plug-in hybrids, for the
allocation of credits.

During the committee markup sessions, a number of amendments were
added, including:

* Establishing a 5,000-vehicle PHEV conversion pilot program
that would involve 5 cities with 1,000 conversions per city.
* Establishing a revolving loan program for qualified electric
transportation projects, which includes ship-side or shore-side
electrification; truck-stop electrification; electric truck
refrigeration units; battery powered APUs for trucks; electric
airport ground support equipment; electric or dual-mode electric
freight rail; any distribution upgrades required to supply
electricity to the projects; and any ancillary infrastructure.
* Authorizing grants to owners of electric drive transportation
technology to use off-peak electricity or to have the load managed by
the utility.
* Establishing a market assessment program for electric-drive
transportation technologies.
* Establishing a program to determine how to integrate PHEVs
into the transmission grid, to develop systems and processes to allow
plug-ins to function as emergency back-up power sources for consumers.
* Ordering a study from the DOT, DOE and other agencies on the
benefits of and barriers to the widespread use of city electric cars
(higher speed than neighborhood electric vehicles, lower speed than
passenger vehicles) and which may be battery electric, fuel-cell
electric or plug-in hybrids.
* Specifically including hydraulic hybrids in the vehicle mix.

[Read the rest of the posting to understand what's happening on CAFE
standards between Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Energy and Commerce Committee
Chair John Dingell, and Rep. Joe Barton.]

Below are resources (thanks to Plug In America's alert) to help you
see who's on the Committee and follow what's happened, and contact them easily.

It's not easy to find out how the votes went on any item -- a
starting point is at
http://energycommerce.house.gov/cmte_mtgs/index_110.shtml

House Energy & Commerce Committee Members
http://energycommerce.house.gov/membios/11...ship.shtml#FULL
John D. Dingell (MI), Chairman Ratio: 31-26
Democrats Republicans
Henry A. Waxman, CA Joe Barton, TX, Ranking Member
Edward J. Markey, MA Ralph M. Hall, TX
Rick Boucher, VA J. Dennis Hastert, IL
Edolphus Towns, NY Fred Upton, MI
Frank Pallone, Jr., NJ Cliff Stearns, FL
Bart Gordon, TN Nathan Deal, GA
Bobby L. Rush, IL Ed Whitfield, KY
Anna G. Eshoo, CA Barbara Cubin, WY
Bart Stupak, MI John Shimkus, IL
Eliot L. Engel, NY Heather Wilson, NM
Albert R. Wynn, MD John Shadegg, AZ
Gene Green, TX Charles W. "Chip" Pickering, MS
Diana DeGette, CO, Vice Chair Vito Fossella, NY
Lois Capps, CA Steve Buyer, IN
Mike Doyle, PA George Radanovich, CA
Jane Harman, CA Joseph R. Pitts, PA
Tom Allen, ME Mary Bono, CA
Jan Schakowsky, IL Greg Walden, OR
Hilda L. Solis, CA Lee Terry, NE
Charles A. Gonzalez, TX Mike Ferguson, NJ
Jay Inslee, WA Mike Rogers, MI
Tammy Baldwin, WI Sue Myrick, NC
Mike Ross, AR John Sullivan, OK
Darlene Hooley, OR Tim Murphy, PA
Anthony D. Weiner, NY Michael C. Burgess, TX
Jim Matheson, UT Marsha Blackburn, TN
G. K. Butterfield, NC
Charlie Melancon, LA
John Barrow, GA
Baron P. Hill, IN

To phone or fax your representative, use this link and just type in
your state and zip+4:
http://www.house.gov/writerep/

If you don't know your zip+4, this link will give you an alphabetical
list of representatives:
http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.shtml