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Good Morning America + Fun from EVWorld's Editor
Feb 21, 2006 (From the CalCars-News archive)
CalCars-News
This posting originally appeared at CalCars-News, our newsletter of breaking CalCars and plug-in hybrid news. View the original posting here.
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We hope to have a streaming version online in a day or so. Below you'll find: 1. PARTIAL transcript--a bit more than half of the story. 2. Related story at GMA's website 3. Column by EVWorld's editor

Good Morning America, Feb 21, 2006 Addicted to Oil: Bush's Energy "Breakthrough" Aired 7:07 AM, approx 2:45 minutes

DIANE SAWYER: We're going to turn now to the Preisdent's escalating plan for what he's calling America's addiction to foreign oil. We first heard the PResident talking about this in the State of the Union address. But now he's talking about cars that get 100 miles per gallon? Weekend editor Kate Snow joins us this morning from Airmont, NY.

KATE SNOW: Diane, Good morning, more than 200,000 people bought one of these hybrid cars last year. It's a car that runs on both gasoline and electric battery. And one of the things the President is saying is if more Americans would drive cars like these we could significantly reduce our dependence on foreign oil. PRES. BUSH: "I know it came as a shock to some to hear a Texan stand here in front of the country and say "we got a real problem: America is addicted to oil." SNOW: For Americans passionate about alternative fuels and clean energy, the President's new message has been startling. BUSH: The ultimate goal is to have solar technology on your home and that home will become a little power generating unit unto itself. SNOW: The world's most famous ex-oil man is suddenly speaking their language. BUSH: Plug-in hybrid--is to make it initially go 40 miles on electricity alone." FELIX KRAMER: It's wonderful. In about a year, everybody in America is starting to hear about plug-in hybrids

SNOW: Felix Kramer is with a grassroots group in California pushing for these cars that plug into the wall and use even less gas than the hybrids on the road today. America now must import 10 million barrels of oil a day. One group says imports could be slashed by 8 million barrels a day by the year 2025 if every car on the road were a hybrid and half of them were the kind that plug in. But that's not so easy to achieve. Detroit has been slow to embrace hybrids, leaving consumers willing to spend a few thousand dollars more for hybrid technology with few options. Critics say the Bush Administration isn't putting enough money behind his energy ideas.

[Graphics show President visiting Johnson Controls, speaking; Felix Kramer speaking, Kramer/CalCars.org ID, photos of Felix, Ron Gremban from http://www.calcars.org/­photos.html, graph of SetAmericaFree.org chart.]

http://abcnews.go.com/­GMA/­story?id=1643665&page=1 Bush Pushes for Alternative Energy He's Advocating Hybrid Cars and Solar Power

Feb. 21, 2006 - - President Bush is turning a lot of heads this week with another big push for alternative sources of energy.

In the State of the Union address, he spoke about hydrogen-powered cars and fueling cars with switchgrass and wood chips. Now he's talking about hybrid cars.

More than 200,000 Americans bought a hybrid car last year -- they run on both gas and an electric battery. The president said that if more Americans drove them, the nation could significantly decrease its dependence on foreign oil.

"The plug-in hybrid, they estimate, can initially go 40 miles on electricity alone," the president said.

"I know it came as a shock to some to hear a Texan stand up there in front of the country and say, 'We've got a real problem; America is addicted to oil,'" Bush said.

Today, Bush is expected to visit the Energy Department's Renewable Energy Lab in Colorado.

Some environmentalists are shocked, but pleased, that the world's most famous former oil man is suddenly speaking their language.

"It's wonderful. In about a year, everyone's going to hear about plug-in hybrids," said Felix Kramer, a member of a California grass-roots group that is pushing for cars that can plug into a wall and that use even less gas than the hybrids on the road today.

The United States imports 10 million barrels of oil a day to meet current demand. One group said imports could be slashed by 8 million barrels a day by 2025 if every car on the road was a hybrid and half of them were the kind that plug in.

But Detroit has been slow to embrace hybrids, leaving consumers with few options. Some say the president needs to push even harder to get the new technology on the road. Critics say the president is putting enough money behind his energy ideas.

"We think the president could be bolder," Kramer said. "He could call up the president of a car company and say, 'Make this happen now.'"

The president also said that wind turbines could supply up to 20 percent of the nation's electricity, but Democrats say his budget for wind energy hasn't increased since 2001.

"This is mostly a rhetorical offensive more than it is a spending offensive," said Jerry Taylor of the CATO Institute, a Washington think tank.

Much of what the president is proposing is years, even decades, away from happening. But even Bush's harshest critics have trouble arguing with the president's newfound passion for alternative sources of energy.

To learn more about Felix Kramer's organization, visit the web site at www.calcars.org.


[I couldn't resist sending this out...the "insider" column goes only to subscribers of EVWorld.com; I urge all to sign up for $29/year; it's a resource worth supporting] http://www.evworld.com/­general.cfm?section=directory&page=insider EVWorld Editor Bill Moore INSIDER PERSPECTIVE
Published: Monday, 20 Feb 2006

George Bush Is Starting to Sound Like Felix Kramer

Have you been following what George Bush has been saying since his State of the Union address? It's absolutely amazing. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear that CalCar's Felix Kramer is whispering in the man's ear.

First the president not only references flexible fuel vehicles in the State of the Union but he also spoke out on the need to develop better batteries for both plug-in hybrids and electric cars. Okay, you figure, he satisfied the neo-con hawks and environmental tree-huggers who've been urging just this course of action. Now he can get back to pushing for drilling in ANWR.

Instead, the man goes to Florida for a tour of CENTCOM or some such place and again calls for plug-in hybrids. Then he does his weekly radio talk and repeats the same message. Of course, there's also the pitch for more nuclear power, which has little chance of succeeding without massive federal guarantees from a government that is seriously financially strapped.

This week, he's off in Air Force One touring the country, including stopping in Denver to visit the National Renewable Energy Laboratory -- where several dozen people were recently let go -- to again make his energy independence pitch. And I'd wager you a Guiness that he'll talk about biofuels and plug-in hybrids.

Now if only Congress appropriates the money and Detroit gets off its... ah, fence.

[I've gotten some criticism from people who thought I was unduly positive about the President's new statements -- muted somewhat since our statement at http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/­group/­calcars-news/­message/­305. At least this column doesn't say Kramer is sounding like Bush...]

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