Monday, April 30, 2007

Biden Mentions Lithium During Debate; What's Up With the Diesel Provision?

In the Democratic debate last week, Joe Biden mentioned his legislation to prod lithium battery research for plug-in cars among the panoply of actions required to meet the global climate challenge.
We also have legislation in requiring that we invest $100 million a year the next couple of years while this president’s president in order to be able to find lithium battery technology to be able to — to power our cars.
Of course what we need now is not so much dollars for battery research (although that is useful) as incentives and mandates for plug-in cars. Yet that's exactly what the provision tucked in at the end of the bill otherwise devoted to electric transportation, including electric cars and plug-in hybrids, does for "lean burn" diesel vehicles. The legislation, S1055, would expand the availability of tax credits for diesel vehicles. In the press release on the bill, Biden does cite a specific beneficiary:
In particular, Daimler Chrysler produces a Jeep Grand Cherokee diesel that will qualify under the new requirements.
Section 3 of Biden's bill refers to IRS Code Section 30B, but 30B doesn't appear on the IRS webpage. So I can't figure out what the real import of the provision is.
SEC. 3. AVAILABILITY OF NEW ADVANCED LEAN BURN TECHNOLOGY MOTOR VEHICLE CREDIT FOR HIGH-EFFICIENCY DIESEL MOTOR VEHICLES.

(a) In General- Section 30B(c)(3)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (defining new advanced lean burn technology motor vehicle credit) is amended--
(1) by adding `and' at the end of clause (ii), and
(2) by striking clause (iv).

Upstream Costs of Gasoline

The United States uses 360 million gallons of gasoline each day. One tanker-truck load, a mere 8600 gallons of gasoline, exploded on a San Francisco Bay Area Freeway early Sunday morning, and the consequences will be felt for months. The effect of this one accident is being compared to the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, which also caused the collapse of Bay Area freeways.