April 6, 2000
Rodney E. Slater, Secretary
Office of the Secretary
U.S.
Department of Transportation
400 7th St. SW.
Washington, D.C.
20590
Dear Secretary Slater:
As Chair and Vice-Chair of the Governors' Ethanol Coalition, we would
like to express our support for the continuation of the flexible fuel
vehicle credit program. This program is of critical importance not only to
the citizens represented by the 24 Governors who serve as members of our
coalition, but to the entire nation, as this program seeks to address long
term international energy security demands through the increased use of
alternative fuels in vehicles.
This Federal program to encourage the manufacture, sale and use of
alternative fuel vehicles was established in the Alternative Motor
Fuels Act to break through the "chicken and egg" (fuels versus
vehicle) availability problem.
About one million alternative fuel vehicles are currently on the road,
largely due to the fuel economy credits available to manufacturers to
produce these vehicles. We believe this program is necessary to achieve
continuing FFV penetration in the marketplace and must be extended.
Without such an incentive, replacement fuels, and the supporting
infrastructure to make fuels widely available, may not become fully
established. Consequently, progress in making alternative fuel vehicle use
a viable, cost effective initiative may be jeopardized.
In a recent Congressionally mandated study, the General Accounting
Office documented concerns that the current incentive program has not yet
met the ambitious goals established at the outset. While our progress has
been modest, the extent to which we have accomplished anything at all is
due to the existence of these incentives. Therefore, we believe the FFV
incentive must be continued and additional incentives created to encourage
fuel availability to achieve a meaningful breakthrough in the motor
vehicle fuels market.
We understand that by September 30, you will report to the Congress,
after consulting with other agencies, on the success of the flexible fuel
incentive provisions. We strongly urge the Administration to extend the
current incentive for developing FFVs as established in the Alternative
Motor Fuels Act of 1988.
We look forward to working with you on this important issue.
