Diesel Engine Research for Cars and Light Trucks BackgroundIn fiscal year 2000, under the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV) the DOE will spend $41.1 million to subsidize auto industry research and development of a "new generation" of diesel-fueled cars and light trucks, and diesel fuels. This program encourages a dirty technology when cleaner ones exist. In addition, the program is a direct subsidy to both the auto industry, which should conduct its own research into cleaner fuels, and the fuels industry.
Green Scissors Proposal Eliminate funding for diesel engine research at the Department of Energy, saving at least $205 million over five years.
Project Hurts Taxpayers These programs are pure corporate welfare, benefiting the major U.S. auto and diesel engine manufacturers, while foreign companies like Toyota and Honda have developed more efficient engines on their own.
Project Hurts Environment Energy efficient alternatives to diesel fuel for passenger vehicles exist. Fuel cells, for example, are devices that can produce electricity virtually pollution-free. All aspects of oil production (the source of diesel fuel), from drilling to refining, have severe environmental consequences. Diesel particulates are also listed as a probable human carcinogen in the state of California.
Coal is an extremely polluting and carbon-intensive energy source. Burning coal for energy significantly contributes to acid rain and greenhouse gas build-up in the atmosphere, as well as mercury and soot pollution. Putting money into coal R&D will artificially delay and stunt the development of cleaner fuels and technologies. Moreover, because of the basic chemical and physical characteristics of coal, once coal is burned, the reduction of CO2 emissions becomes economically impossible.
$205 million