|
 |
 |
|
Former Bush transportation secretary pushes Obama administration on clean cars
The Obama administration's call for cars getting 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025 should be met without favoring any particular clean-energy technology, former President George W. Bush's Transportation secretary Norman Mineta said Monday.
Mineta, who served in President Bush's Cabinet until 2006 and before that as Democratic member of California's House delegation, was speaking Monday in Washington on behalf of the U.S. Coalition for Advanced Diesel Cars.
He called for "technology-neutral" clean-energy policies for automobiles.
"Trying to get to 54 miles per gallon is not going to [just] be answered by either hybrid or electric," he said in an interview with The Hill. "There's room for clean gas and turbo-charged engines. You can have a smaller engine, a lighter engine and still end up having horsepower and less emissions."
But Mineta said Monday that lawmakers have been receptive to his "technology-neutral" approach.
"They're not aware of what's happening, but when you talk about a level playing field and technology neutrality, they're very much impressed," he said of his meetings with his former colleagues in Congress.
Mineta said current Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has also been open to the proposal. But LaHood is working under the same constraints Mineta is trying to change, he said.
"In my conversations with Secretary LaHood, he tells me [the General Services Administration] tells me I've got to buy hybrid or electric," Mineta said.
The full report is available here.
