Political Quotes

“My colleague John Barrasso has just spoken. He and I used to lead the Environment and Public Works Committee. We worked together over the years on a lot of issues. He is good at finding the middle in a bunch of those and I think I am, too, and so is our Presiding Officer. I want to follow up on the issue of electric vehicles. The reason why there is a strong interest in this country and around the world in electric vehicles is because they don't put greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The reason why we are concerned about greenhouse gases coming out of fossil fuel vehicles--it is something like 30 percent of the greenhouse gases in this country being produced by our mobile fleet, our cars, our trucks, our vans--almost all of them are gas- and diesel-driven. We are seeing a real tick up in the last 3 or 4 years in electric vehicles. There is a lot of interest right now in a combination-- hybrids--where you run for a while--vehicles run for a while on battery and for a while some of these on other sources of fuel. I think we need both of those. The reason, again, why it is important for us to do something real with respect to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, about 30 percent of our greenhouse gas emissions come from the cars, trucks, and vans we drive--about 30 percent. About another 25 percent comes from the powerplants--coal-fired plants, natural gas-fired plants. That creates the electricity we use in our businesses and our homes.…”