Obama Proposes New Alternative Fuel Tax Credit
President Barack Obama announced a new $200 million tax credit for the development of alternative fuel technologies in a continued effort to reduce U.S. oil consumption.
The announcement came as part of the speech Obama gave today in Upper Marlboro, Md., where he directed the EPA and NHTSA to outline new rules for increased fuel efficiency standards affecting medium- and heavy-duty vehicles.
More immediately, the new tax credit would encourage private investment in green transportation. Rather than supporting one form of alternative fuel transportation, the credit is fuel neutral, the White House said today in a statement. That opens it to an array of options including biofuels, electrification, natural gas, hydrogen or other alternative fuels.
Previous government efforts to stimulate green car production fell under hard criticism. The U.S. Department of Energy’s $25 billion loan program began in 2007 but was scrutinized after two of the five companies it funded stopped producing vehicles.
In 2011, the Obama administration called for one million electric cars to be on the road by 2015, but backed off that goal last year in January.
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Luke is an energetic automotive journalist who spends his time covering industry news and crawling the internet for the latest breaking story. When he isn't in the office, Luke can be found obsessively browsing used car listings, drinking scotch at his favorite bar and dreaming of what to drive next, though the list grows a lot faster than his bank account. He's always on <A title="@lukevandezande on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/lukevandezande">Twitter</A> looking for a good car conversation. Find Luke on <A title="@lukevandezande on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/lukevandezande">Twitter</A> and <A title="Luke on Google+" href="http://plus.google.com/112531385961538774338?rel=author">Google+</A>.
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So a lawyer is going to tell engineers what to do....