Editor: The Arizona Republic 120 East Van Buren Phoenix, AZ 85004
Dear Editor,
The ongoing stratagem of hoodwinking the public by virtue of promising much but delivering virtually nothing, as perfected by General Motors, is becoming all too evident. Your 1-15-96 editorial on electric cars reveals some of the EV1's drawback but left unsaid are significantly more serious problems with battery operated, mass produced electric vehicles.
Many people suffering through sixteen consecutive days of pollution advisories might, in a moment of pulmonary shortfall, shell out $30,000 + in the belief that the EV1 would help clean up our dreadful pollution problem. No so! Mr. and Mrs. electric car driver may think how wonderful it would be not to burn any hydrocarbon fuel, thus helping to preserve our fossil fuel reserves, decrease our misguided reliance on imports of OPEC oil, while reducing pollution. Sounds great - but the reality is vastly different. Tailpipe emissions may decrease but smokestack emissions will increase dramatically as the electric power drain from large numbers of recharging cars quickly overwhelms existing capacity. New generating plants would have to come on line and all would be fired with polluting fossil fuels. Peak and off-peak would become a thing of the past; cars are used both night and day and the recharging takes a least 3 hours. The cost of electricity for recharging could well exceed the cost of gasoline. Vehicle down time for recharging would become a major, unacceptable inconvenience. And we would end up with more pollution rather than less.
Again we will have been deceived and manipulated as another positive environmental and health option vanishes in the smoke of misrepresentation and secrecy. But take heart Arizonans, there is a real, legitimate option which could solve all these difficulties without Detroit having to scrap the internal combustion engine.
A case in point: two new, totally non-polluting, hydrogen-powered, large passenger capacity, 350-mile range buses were brought to the valley complete with support staff. They were intended for transportation, education, and demonstration to large numbers of a receptive public during Super Bowl activities. This was accomplished after much complicated and seemingly endless negotiating between the American Hydrogen Association, Tempe, and Phoenix to secure their approval. Phoenix officials, however, in an abrupt and totally unexpected, unexplained reversal, created a public relations disaster by bestowing a slap in the face to two major corporations, by virtue of sending the buses and staff packing. Their intemperate actions also deprived the public of heartening, right-to-know information about this benign, proven technology. It is imperative that citizens in such pivotal times be afforded the opportunity to have a voice in a process that will affect us far into the next century.
If events of this magnitude are hidden, at the whim of a few Phoenix officials, one cannot but wonder that GM's choice of Phoenix and Tucson as test marketing cities did not prompt this transparent betrayal of the public trust.
Only through a responsible and responsive media outlet can the exasperated and angry public be made aware of circumstances and secret decisions that impact their health, finances, and convenience for the near term and for posterity.
Sincerely,
Sherwin Berger
American Hydrogen Association
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