Kilroy: Cars should run on alternative fuels by 2020

Mary Jo Kilroy and Rahm Emanuel: Politicker PhotoCOLUMBUS -- Franklin County Commissioner and 15th Congressional District candidate Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Columbus) unveiled her plan to save voters from high gas prices with the help of U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) at Ohio State University's Center for Automotive Research.

Kilroy's plan wants the federal government to offer research grants and tax breaks to auto companies' so they can build car fleets that have virtually no internal combustion engines by 2020. Instead, U.S. cars would be powered by bio-fuels, hydrogen fuel cells and second-generation hybrids. Kilroy said her plan does not mandate automakers to use alternate-energy engines, only encourages them with incentives.

Kilroy billed her auto plan as helpful to consumers.

"Let's give some tax credit relief to our consumers to help them buy these exciting new products, these plug in hybrids, these alternative fuel vehicles," Kirloy said. "You know, when we have these vehicles, we'll have to think of a new way to fill them up."

To fund the infrastructure to supply alternative fuels to vehicles, Kilroy wants to rescind tax breaks for oil companies. Meanwhile, Kilroy wants the government to tell oil companies that they must use the 68 million acres in federal exploration leases they have or lose them. Kilroy also wants to increase refining capacity and regulate commodity training of U.S. oil futures by foreign-commodities exchanges to lower oil prices.

In contrast, Kilroy's opponent, state Sen. Steve Stivers (R-Columbus) wants to invest in alternative energy with the profits from domestic drilling, not repealed tax breaks for energy companies. Stivers' campaign sent a press release yesterday listing additions to his energy plan, that has expanded to consider algae oil, bio-diesel, ethanol, hydrogen fuel cells, compressed natural gas, and hybrids as worthy of research and development.

Kilroy announced the first part of her energy plan to deal with global warming last week.

Emanuel credited the Democratic Congress for raising fuel-mileage mandates on cars after years of Republican inaction and said "America's independence on energy is key to its own economic growth."

Emanuel is fundraising for Kilroy and will be in the 1st Congressional District to help state Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-Price Hill).

Emanuel was chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in the 2006 cycle -- a year where Kilroy came about 1,000 votes away from defeating U.S. Rep. Deb Pryce (R-Columbus).

Emanuel said he felt that the DCCC could have done a better job with turnout last cycle but that he's looking ahead this year.
"I go over in my head every race, both the ones we won and the ones we lost. The biggest thing that we have to do is learn the lesson of the past and move forward. What Mary Jo did today and we're talking about is who represents change, and communicating that sense of change," Emanuel said.

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