February 20, 2003
Media Compilation #116: Bad & Ugly Revelations and Yet Some Good News Too
Dear journalist
LOTS of disturbing revelations in this one. I'm sure you'll agree with me if you can read this through...
But there are some good news too!
Jean Hudon
Earth Rainbow Network Coordinator
http://www.EarthRainbowNetwork.com
This compilation is archived at http://www.EarthRainbowNetwork.com/Archives2003/MediaCompilation116.htm
"How can we possibly go to the international community or to these countries and say 'How dare you develop these weapons', when it's exactly what we're doing?"
- Stephen Schwartz, publisher of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists - taken from http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,898550,00.html
CONTENTS
1. Ohio Rep. Kucinich: 'I'm ready to run for president'
2. Comment on Senator Byrd's Speech
3. Code Black
4. Latest American Bombing In Afghanistan Yields High Civilian Casualties
5. US lawmakers push for development of hydrogen cars
See also:
End of the world nigh - it's official (Feb 14) MUST READ!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,12374,895297,00.html
Ignore the optimists: the global warming horror stories are all true. There is a lot wrong with our world. But it is not as bad as many people think. It is worse. Global warming is slowly but relentlessly changing the face of the planet. (...) Even more seriously, 10,000 billion tonnes of methane (a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than CO2) are stored, according to the US Geological Survey, on the shallow floor of the Arctic, in sediments below the seabed. If the temperature surrounding the methane warms, it becomes unstable and methane gas is released, causing temperatures to increase further. Warming oceans also cause the waters to expand and the sea level to rise. Sea level is predicted to rise by 3ft over the next century, leading to huge areas of Bangladesh, Egypt and China being inundated. We don't know the limits of nature - how much rain could fall for how long a period, how much more powerful and frequent hurricanes could become, for how long droughts could endure. The ultimate concern is that if runaway global warming occurred, temperatures could spiral out of control and make our planet uninhabitable. CLIP
Blair to Defy Anti-War Protests
http://www.guardian.co.uk/antiwar/story/0,12809,897150,00.html
Million-strong demonstration will not deflect Iraq policy as ministers rally round prime minister.
The Real Reasons for the Upcoming War With Iraq
http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/RRiraqWar.html
A Macroeconomic and Geostrategic Analysis of the Unspoken Truth. Although completely suppressed in the U.S. media, the answer to the Iraq enigma is simple yet shocking -- it is an oil currency war. The real reason for this upcoming war is this administration's goal of preventing further Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) momentum towards the euro as an oil transaction currency standard. However, in order to pre-empt OPEC, they need to gain geo-strategic control of Iraq along with its 2nd largest proven oil reserves. This lengthy essay discusses the macroeconomics of the `petro-dollar' and the unpublicized but real threat to U.S. economic hegemony from the euro as an alternative oil transaction currency.
Disturbing Questions (Feb 19)
http://truthout.org/docs_02/022003A.htm
On a recent CNN International broadcast, I watched Tom Ridge being interviewed by Wolf Blitzer. Blitzer lobbed softball questions, picked up the slack and explained the White House position when Ridge was at a loss for words, and then framed several questions about partisan Democrats being at the root of security problems and war resistance. Blitzer never asked: "Why did you guys run a focus group on your terrorism alert? Doesn't that smack of political manipulation rather than true patriotic concern for America's safety? Did the White House really file a supporting motion in court to block the peace rallies in NY? What scientific studies did Homeland Security use to determine duct tape and plastic were effective against chemical and biological bombs? And how is it that neither the FBI nor CIA gave the "informant" a lie detector test prior to issuing the Orange Alert? Doesn't that show incompetence of two agencies charged with protecting America?" CLIP
U.S. Plan For New Nuclear Arsenal: Secret Talks May Lead to Breaking Treaties (Feb 19)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,898550,00.html
The Bush administration is planning a secret meeting in August to discuss the construction of a new generation of nuclear weapons, including "mini-nukes", "bunker-busters" and neutron bombs designed to destroy chemical or biological agents, according to a leaked Pentagon document. The meeting of senior military officials and US nuclear scientists at the Omaha headquarters of the US Strategic Command would also decide whether to restart nuclear testing and how to convince the American public that the new weapons are necessary. (...) "To me it indicates there are plans proceeding and well under way ... to resume the development, testing and production of new nuclear weapons. It's very serious," said Stephen Schwartz, the publisher of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, who added that it opened the US to charges of hypocrisy when it is demanding the disarmament of Iraq and North Korea. "How can we possibly go to the international community or to these countries and say 'How dare you develop these weapons', when it's exactly what we're doing?" Mr Schwartz said. CLIP
Kurdish Leaders Enraged by 'Undemocratic' American Plan to Occupy Iraq (Feb 17)
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/story.jsp?story=379060
The US is abandoning plans to introduce democracy in Iraq after a war to overthrow Saddam Hussein, according to Kurdish leaders who recently met American officials. The Kurds say the decision resulted from pressure from US allies in the Middle East who fear a war will lead to radical political change in the region. The Kurdish leaders are enraged by an American plan to occupy Iraq but largely retain the government in Baghdad. The only changes would be the replacement of President Saddam and his lieutenants with senior US military officers. It undercuts the argument by George Bush and Tony Blair that war is justified by the evil nature of the regime in Baghdad. (...) The destabilising impact of the impending war is already being felt in the mountains of northern Iraq. Turkey has demanded that its troops be allowed to take over a swath of territory along the border inside Iraq. The ostensible reason is to prevent a flood of Kurdish refugees trying to flee into Turkey, but the Kurdish parties say they are quite capable of doing this themselves. They say the Turkish demand, to which they suspect the US has agreed in return for the use of Turkish military facilities, is the first step in a Turkish plan to advance into Iraqi Kurdistan. The Kurds fear that a US-led war against President Saddam might be the occasion for a Turkish effort to end the de facto independence enjoyed by Iraqi Kurds for more than a decade. One Kurdish leader said: "Turkey has made up its mind that it will intervene in northern Iraq in order to destroy us. Peace activists who want to be "human shields" arrived in Baghdad yesterday. The activists, who had 18 Britons among them, left London on 25 January in three double decker buses. They will deploy at likely bombing targets.
Risking a Civil War
http://www.msnbc.com/news/873499.asp?0cv=CB10&cp1=1
NEWSWEEK has learned, Turkey is demanding that it send 60,000 to 80,000 of its own troops into northern Iraq to establish "strategic positions'' across a "security arc'' as much as 140 to 170 miles deep in Iraq. That would take Turkish troops almost halfway to Baghdad. These troops would not be under U.S. command, according to Turkish sources, who say Turkey has agreed only to "coordination'' between U.S. and Turkish forces. Ankara fears the Iraqi Kurds might use Saddam's fall to declare independence. Kurdish leaders have not yet been told of this new plan, according to Kurdish spokesmen in Washington, who say the Kurds rejected even the earlier notion of a narrow buffer zone. Farhad Barzani, the U.S. representative of the main Kurdish party in Iraq, the KDP, says, "We have told them: American troops will come as liberators. But Turkish troops will be seen as invaders.'' (...) "Turkey is playing hardball,'' said Michael Amitay of the Washington Kurdish Institute. "But if the U.S. agrees to these Turkish deployments, there is a real risk that the Kurds will start a guerrilla war against the Turkish troops.''
COULD THE WAR GO NUCLEAR?
http://www.fpif.org/outside/commentary/2003/0302nukewar.html
The Economic Impacts of a War With Iraq (Feb 13)
http://www.voice4change.org/stories/showstory.asp?file=030218~cfp.asp
Israeli sources say war imminent; Iran and Syria next (Feb 15)
http://www.ummahnews.com/print.php?sid=1416
Sources in the Israeli defense establishment expect a Bush administration assault on Iraq within weeks, if not days. Israeli Chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon, quoted by local media, says that the war would begin "before the end of February." ... Yaalon also states that an attack on Iraq would spark a geopolitical "earthquake" in the region, following which the US would target Iran and Syria. Another Ha'aretz report says that the Israeli Defense Forces have been "constantly" preparing for an attack on Iraq, but the measures have proceeded quietly in order "to prevent panic."
Exclusive: U.S. Military Document Outlines War Coverage (Feb 14)
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/editorandpublisher/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1817934
Promises Wide Access, But Strict Limits. The U.S. military plans to take extraordinary steps to provide the media access to combat zones in Iraq, but only after making reporters agree to a series of strict prohibitions CLIP
Falling Back to Taliban Ways with Women (Jan 21)
http://www.iht.com/articles/83949.html
(...) All over Afghanistan, especially outside the capital, progress on female education is being compromised by the behavior of ultra-conservative local leaders, allies of the U.S.-led coalition in the war against the Taliban. They used their connections to the United States to seize power but then embraced some of the Taliban's most odious restrictions.
Public Readings of Lysistrata in 33 Countries to Condemn War in Iraq
http://www.pecosdesign.com/lys
Activists Worldwide Use Ancient Play to Address Current Crisis - NEW YORK, NY -- On March 3, 2003, the Lysistrata Project will present worldwide readings of Aristophanes' ancient Greek anti-war comedy Lysistrata. To date, 393 play readings are scheduled in 33 countries to voice opposition to the war in Iraq; those numbers increase hourly. Readings will raise money for charities working for peace and humanitarian aid in the Middle East. Contact: Nadine Newlight 573-7730/870-0625
What Do the Imperial Mafia Really Want? (Feb 17)
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=15&ItemID=3064
Which is the more remarkable -- that the United States can openly announce to the world its determination to invade a sovereign nation and overthrow its government in the absence of any attack or threat of attack from the intended target? Or that for an entire year the world has been striving to figure out what the superpower's real intentions are?
The Economics of War by Monbiot (Feb 18)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,897766,00.html
Our marches were unprecedented, but they have, so far, been unsuccessful. The immune systems of the US and British governments have proved to be rather more robust than we had hoped. Their intransigence leaves the world with a series of unanswered questions. Why, when the most urgent threat arising from illegal weapons of mass destruction is the nuclear confrontation between India and Pakistan, is the US government ignoring it and concentrating on Iraq? Why, if it believes human rights are so important, is it funding the oppression of the Algerians, the Uzbeks, the Palestinians, the Turkish Kurds and the Colombians? Why has the bombing of Iraq, rather than feeding the hungry, providing clean water or preventing disease, become the world's most urgent humanitarian concern? Why has it become so much more pressing than any other that it should command a budget four times the size of America's entire annual spending on overseas aid? CLIP
Bush uses AIDS funding as an instrument of foreign policy (Feb 18)
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/feb2003/aids-f18.shtml
US President George W. Bush announced $15 billion to fight HIV and AIDS in his State of the Union address on January 28. The proposed funds are to be spent in the African countries of Botswana, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. Also included are the two Caribbean countries Guyana and Haiti. Two thirds of the sum is new money, with the remainder being drawn from existing proposals. However, the move is far less generous than it first appears and has a definite and sinister ulterior motive. (...)
Bush’s announcement is in line with this assessment. It demonstrates his administration’s determination to treat the HIV/AIDS epidemic as a matter of security not a health question or a humanitarian issue. The money will be used as an instrument of foreign policy to reward or punish underdeveloped countries and to tighten US control over them.
Confronting Empire By Arundhati Roy (Jan 28)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/portside/message/3693
1.
From: http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/02/17/kucinich.president/index.html
Ohio Rep. Kucinich: 'I'm ready to run for president'
DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) --Rep. Dennis Kucinich said Monday that he is "ready to run for president" on an unabashed liberal platform that opposes the foreign policy championed by the Bush administration, including a possible war in Iraq.
February 17, 2003
The Democratic congressman from Ohio said he will file papers Tuesday to form a presidential exploratory committee, and that he expects to seek the Democratic nomination for president.
"This isn't just about Iraq," Kucinich told CNN. "This is about an administration's policy which is going to proliferate war around the world. This is about a policy of pre-emption and unilateralism, of nuclear first strike.
"We need a foreign policy which is cooperative, which enhances our relations with allies, not separates people. We need a holistic worldview that views the world as interdependent and interconnected."
The administration has not made a persuasive case for war, the four-term, 56-year-old congressman said. "There is no basis to go to war against Iraq," he said, adding that Iraq is not responsible for the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, is not responsible for al Qaeda's role in those attacks, is not responsible for the ensuing anthrax attacks and represents no threat to the United States.
"Iraq cannot attack our nation, but if we attack Iraq, I think we'll make America less safe and more vulnerable to terrorism," he said.
Kucinich described himself as "an FDR-type Democrat" who would work to "make sure people have jobs [and], universal health care, and protect Social Security.
"When I take that message through this state and across this country, I think there's going to be real responsiveness to it, and also a message that war is not necessary."
He broadened his criticism to include some within his own party. "I think that we need to bring back into the debate the old-time Democratic values. This is a struggle for the soul of the Democratic Party, which in too many cases has become so corporate and identified with corporate interests that you can't tell the difference between Democrats and Republicans.
"Well, in my case, you will be able to tell the difference. I'll be there on the side of workers, on the side of the environment, on the side of fair trade and on the side of peace."
Kucinich was in Iowa, the first caucus state, to address a meeting of the AFL-CIO in Altoona.
Elected Cleveland city councilman at 23, he went on to be elected Cleveland's mayor nine years later, becoming the youngest mayor of a large U.S. city.
In 1996, he was elected to Congress as an economic progressive, though he tends to be more conservative on cultural issues. For example, he opposes abortion.
Asked about his recent comment to an Akron newspaper that it would be "a cold day and possibly a snowy day in hell before a liberal would get back into the White House," he responded, "Have you been checking the stories on CNN today? All over America, it's cold and snowy. I'm ready to run for president."
TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT DENNIS KUCINICH GO AT http://www.kucinich.us/
To read his many powerful speeches, go at http://www.house.gov/kucinich/press/speeches.htm
STRONGLY WORDED OPINION
2.
From: essentialhealth@webtv.net (Angela Rosa)
Date: 15 Feb 2003
Subject: Re: Defeating the U.S. War Plans Series #19: Magnificent Global Crescendo For Peace! archived at http://www.EarthRainbowNetwork.com/Archives2003/DefeatingUSWar19.htm
Hello Jean
I have been reading your newsletter for several years now and feel so grateful for the work you are doing. It is one of the most truthful sources of news and information available to many of us. After reading your piece on Senator Byrd's speech, my dear friend Phyllis Bala and I composed the following letter to him. We would like to have it posted on your site if possible.
Thank you and again and God/dess bless you always,
Angela and Phyllis
---
Letter to Senator Byrd Dear Sir, thank you for your courageous, sane and open hearted speech regarding the consequences we will all be held accountable for if this reckless Administration continues on its own path. We feel your despair and plea for what is just.
It seems the Administration has turned a deaf ear to our voices of massive disagreement and dissent regarding this proposed war. Disapproval which we have voiced through peaceful demonstrations, letters, email, phone calls and faxes etc. It is not we who are sitting here mute as you suggest. We are and have been taking action and speaking our concerns and horror at what is taking place in the world in our names by our government. The national media is not broadcasting the events and the public sentiment that has been expressed across all 50 states as well as abroad. It is as though our sentiments are not notable, significant or newsworthy. And so it has appeared as though the American public is sound asleep and in agreement with this Administration's policies.
For many of us, we feel the election was stolen and we did not vote this Administration into office. Would this not be considered a coup in any other country? Is this not a rude awakening?
If the senate is so paralysed by their own fears of the turmoil and the impending threat of a pre-emptive attack, maybe this is because they are realizing this attack is really the GENOCIDE of Iraqi citizens, which as you say are over 50% children and youth. It is time that we spell out precisely what is happening here and stop hiding behind abstract words which refuse to describe the graphic reality of what is being proposed. The refusal to name the action "GENOCIDE" is then a denial which is causing the silence of our senators and results in their inability to "debate, discuss and lay out for the nation the pros and cons of this particular war."
This is not the first time we have practiced GENOCIDE in this country. Our nation was founded upon this principle and it is time to admit that we have done this across North America to MANY nations of indigenous peoples. For a close up view of the actual mass open pit graves in the USA, dug by our cavalry, please refer to the Videos, HOW THE WEST WAS LOST and WIPING THE TEARS OF SEVEN GENERATIONS, by Gary Rhine.
It is time for our lawmakers to come out of denial and stop repeating this heinous history of war crimes in pursuit of economic gain and world domination. What the administration is proposing is as much a war crime as what Hilter perpetrated. We have simply created more elaborate and remote, impersonal technology, thus removing ourselves from the disgusting task at hand, yet, none the less, causing human and environmental devastation and disasters that cross ALL boundaries affecting ALL peoples of the world. Our manner of deceiving the masses through abstract wording such as the "Doctrine of Pre-Emption" keeps people from emotionally and intellectually comprehending the concrete meanings of the words used. This use of semantics manages to manipulate, distance and separate all of us from our heart, our natural connection to nature and our compassion. Basically our reality is affected and we become disassociated and unable to relate. It is then, that people remain paralysed in fear.
This Doctrine of Pre-Emption you describe as a "radical new twist on the traditional idea of self defense." is called LAWLESSNESS in plain English. It is a way of saying we will destroy anything or anyone who stands in our way for any reason or for no reason at all. In this day and time of remote technology we need not even look into the eyes of our brothers and sisters, men, women, elders and children as we ruthlessly destroy their lives and culture.
In the spirit of truth and justice for all, we propose in the event our leaders and legislators and those of other countries, refuse to honor the "conventions of international law and the United Nations charter" as well as the will of the people whom they represent, then they be investigated and held responsible for committing war crimes against humanity. Are the omissions of silence, you refer to, a way for our legislators to exempt themselves from being held accountable? Everyone knows exactly what we as a nation are doing, why we are doing this and where we are headed.
We call upon this body of senators and congressmen to think clearly, speak truthfully and act according to the highest diplomatic, sensitive, intelligent and ethical standards of a Nation who calls itself a peace keeper and leader of our global community. PLEASE, begin with the national media. Broadcast eloquent orators such as yourself and the other congressmen and woman, soldiers and parents of soldiers who are now legally challenging President Bush.
The feelings of the many who are marching, writing and speaking out are not being heard or recognized by the media. Why is this being allowed to continue? There are PEACE, JUSTICE and ANTI WAR centers across the nation and in the international community. We are asking you to please help us bring to light the voices of the many, not just the few, so we can end this dark, unbearable silence and separation that YOU feel from Congress. We, the people, are speaking loud and clear, we need only be listened to and allowed to be seen through our national media. Perhaps you know why there is no accurate and adequate media coverage at a time when it is so critical to be heard. Our future is being decided and only a few are determining its course.
Thank you. Our prayers are with you.
Phyllis Bala and Angela Rosa
3.
From: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/portside/message/3775
Code Black
By Conn Hallinan
When the Bush Administration talks about Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), it means nuclear, chemical and biological devices. But the U.S. is preparing to use a WMD of its own that will accomplish at the speed of light what 10 years of bombing was unable to do in Southeast Asia: turn a country back to the stone age.
The device, sometimes referred to as a "microwave bomb," sometimes as an "E-Bomb," will literally bring a nation to its knees by destroying all electrical devices--permanently. Every battery, every semiconductor, every electrical line and every power source will simply cease to function.
Asked about using the weapon, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld recently said that "you never know," then added that the U.S. "might use it."
While the Administration was being coy about employing the device, military analysts were rubbing their hands in anticipation. "Kabammy! A huge electronic wave comes along and sends out a few thousand volts. Wham! Your cell phone or your computer dies," says Roger McCarthy, chair of Exponent Failure Analysis Associates.
But not only cell phones and computers will die. The E- Bomb will fry all communications cables, radio towers, phone systems, and wires. Traveling through the air or conducted by everything from railroad tracks to plumbing pipes, an enormous electromagnetic pulse (EMP) will flash into homes, businesses and hospitals, and essentially terminate the 20th century.
It will also violate the 1949 Geneva Conventions, and in particular, Protocol 1, Part IV, Article 48, which clearly states that warring parties "shall at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants and between civilian objects and military objectives and accordingly shall direct their operations only against military objectives."
Article 51 specifically prohibits attacks employing a "method or means of combat which cannot be directed at a specific military objective."
Firing one of these devices over Baghdad would indeed immobilize the tanks of the Republican Guard, as well as its anti-aircraft missiles, but it would also shut down every hospital and ambulance. It would also destroy every generator and water pump in a city of 4.5 million people.
Given that some 5,000 Iraqi children die each month, according to the World Health Organization, many of them as a result of water borne diseases caused by a decade of sanctions, civilians are likely to seriously suffer the brunt of such a device.
Again, Article 54 of the Geneva Conventions explicitly forbids rendering "useless" any "drinking water installations."
Iraq is one of the most urban societies in the Middle East. Some 76 percent of its population reside in cities, compared with 61 percent in Iran and 45 percent in Egypt. It is also a very young population. Over 50 percent of its population is 15 years or younger, and children are far more susceptible to water borne diseases, like cholera, than are adults.
The effects of EMPs have been know since a 1958 high altitude nuclear test in the Pacific inadvertently disrupted telephones, street lights and radio transmission in Hawaii and Australia. The initial effect of a nuclear explosion is an EMP wave, and its results have been closely studied since those tests.
The Livermore and Los Alamos national labs have recently produced a rather simple device with a devastating effect. Mounted on a cruise missile, or even attached to a helicopter, the "bomb" forces an explosion through a copper coil, producing what is called the "Compton effect," or electrons traveling at 186,000 miles per second.
The effects are virtually instantaneous and the damage permanent. Every electrical device that it touches will have to be replaced, from microchips and semiconductors to wiring. If the cost for such reconstruction in Iraq has been calculated, the figures are classified.
Supporters of the device see it as a "humane" weapon because it is not supposed to kill people. "The electromagnetic pulse generator is emerging as one of the strongest contendersˆ¢‚Ǩ¬¶to find effective weapons to defeat an enemy without causing loss of Life," writes David Fulghum, an EMP expert.
But as the Geneva Conventions make clear, this kind of attack is a violation of international law because it targets services that civilians will need to survive a war.
Imagine a hospital without electricity or backup generators, serviced by immobile ambulances, their ignition systems fused by a massive EMP. "Code Blue," hospital shorthand for emergency, will become "Code Black."
The temptation to try a new whiz bang in wartime conditions is likely to be overwhelming.
"The only time you get realistic feedback on new capabilities is during wartime," says Bob Martinage from the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. "The military will take advantage of that time to test new systems."
But that "feedback" will violate international law, derail a modern society, and put 23 million Iraqi civilians in harm's way.
4.
From: http://www.jihadunspun.net/intheatre_internal.php?article=45275&list=/home.php&
Latest American Bombing In Afghanistan Yields High Civilian Casualties
BBC Radio Pashto service has reported that in the village of Wilja in the Afghan province of Helmand, as many as a 100 civilians have been killed and more than a dozen have been injured during an American bombing operation.
American sources said their planes came under fire in this area which is why the bombing campaign was underway. Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar is also suspected to be hiding here however Hilmand’s governor and local officials disagree on this. The Karzai administration has sent a delegation to investigate the incident and BBC reports that local residents say that Afghan soldiers have started looting in the area.
Government officials from Helmand reported the death toll from the American bombing at 12. According to local eyewitnesses, hundreds of residents have been killed and a large number of homes destroyed. A local named Ghulam Jilani said that Americans blocked the area after bombing which is making transporting the injured difficult. People from other areas are being barred to enter the bombed areas. Jilani also said that approximately fifty to sixty dead bodies of women and children are present in the caves there and there are no Red Cross officials there currently to evaluate the extent of casualties.
American troops have started a house to house search and are also seeking help from their Afghan counterparts for their protection.
5.
NOW *THAT* IS A GOOD IDEA!
US lawmakers push for development of hydrogen cars
February 13, 2003
WASHINGTON - Two U.S. lawmakers unveiled legislation this week to develop hydrogen-powered automobiles and put them in the market within a decade, five years faster than a similar program pushed by the Bush administration.
Hydrogen fuel cell cars, if widely accepted, would significantly reduce U.S. dependence on foreign imported oil and would cut pollution since the emission-free vehicles' only by-product is water.
The Bush administration has proposed spending $1.7 billion in research over the next 5 years to help develop and have on the road within 15 years hydrogen cars and the supporting hydrogen fuel supplies and service stations.
Many environmental groups view the 15-year time frame as too long and want quicker government action to wean U.S. consumers off foreign oil.
In order to speed up the process, Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Republican Rep. Christopher Cox of California said they will introduce legislation to put hydrogen cars on the road within 10 years and reduce U.S. foreign oil use by 30 million barrels a year.
Their bill would offer financial incentives to put more of the vehicles on the road, increase production of hydrogen fuel and create the infrastructure throughout the country to guarantee accessibility to hydrogen fuel.
"Our bill will provide concrete rewards for everyone who takes steps to put hydrogen fuel cell cars on the road and reduce our dependence on foreign oil," Wyden said.
The bill allows a maximum tax credit of 25 percent of the sale price of a hydrogen powered vehicle with a cap of $50,000. The tax credit would steadily decrease each year to a 5 percent credit and $10,000 cap in 2012.
The purchaser of a qualified fuel cell vehicle would be able to transfer the tax credit to another person.
The bill also mandates that hydrogen powered vehicles must comprise a minimum percentage of federal car fleets, from 5 percent for fleets of 100 vehicles or more in 2006 to 20 percent for fleets of 50 vehicles or more in 2012.
To make hydrogen fuel readily accessible, the legislation establishes tax credits for the retail sale, production and use of hydrogen fuel.
Specifically, sellers of hydrogen fuel would receive a tax credit of 50 cents for each gasoline gallon equivalent of hydrogen sold.
Producers of hydrogen fuel from any source would receive a tax credit of $10 per barrel of oil equivalent. An additional credit of $10 per barrel of oil equivalent is provided for hydrogen fuel produced from renewable sources.
The legislation also calls for Congress not to impose a tax on hydrogen fuel for 10 years.
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