United Auto Workers Backs Clean Energy Bill
“We are especially pleased that this program would require electricity sources, fuel producers and importers, mobile sources and industrial stationary sources to come to the table to participate,” Alan Reuther, the UAW’s legislative director, wrote in a letter to Congress endorsing the legislation.
State and local governments could apply for financial assistance in creating the infrastructure for plug-ins. Manufacturers could apply for aid in producing them and in buying the expensive batteries that would be the vehicles’ heart.
The bill would give automakers 3 percent of the federal government’s revenue from carbon emissions permits from 2012 through 2017 — allowances that could be worth more than $10 billion, according to analysts at consulting firm PointCarbon. That money would be routed through government programs to encourage advanced technology vehicles.
After 2017, and through 2025, the industry would receive 1 percent of allowances.
