The $840billion bailout bill has a small nugget of goodness for greenies ($7500)

[Bread and Circus]

Check this out...

http://www.alternet.org/environment/100806/how_t._boone_pickens%27_energy_plan_just_got_killed/?page=2

How T. Boone Pickens' Energy Plan Just Got Killed

By David Morris, AlterNet. Posted October 9, 2008.

The new bailout plan passed by Congress may have put the nail in the coffin on Pickens' dangerous energy proposal.

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In June 2007, Senators Obama, Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) introduced a bill that would give handsome incentives to manufacturers of electrified cars. After the House of Representatives rejected the initial bailout bill, the Senate added on some $110 billion worth of incentives for a wide range of purposes and industries. The Obama, Hatch, Cantwell bill was one of them. It offers a tax credit of up to $7,500 for electrified vehicles. The incentives phase out after sales of electrified vehicles, either plug in hybrids or all electric cars, reach 250,000 in any calendar quarter.

The passage of that bill will accelerate the already vigorous rush by manufacturers to develop a high performance, long lasting and inexpensive car battery. Companies are working on dozens of configurations and in the last two years progress has been swift. The incentives offered should cover 25-50 percent of the cost of these new car batteries, shaving the payback period for electrified vehicles to under 5 years or less.

The financial meltdown probably has killed Pickens' chances of gaining passage of his natural gas initiative in California. Few voters there will approve putting the state even further in debt. And the passage of the Congressional bailout bill should mark the demise of his overall plan, as electric cars go mainstream, leaving the idea of natural gas cars in the dust.

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From my perspective, this is quite nice. It means people who buy Chevy volts and the like will get a huge tax credit, which will help stimulate sales in electric vehicles. As far as I'm concerned, electric vehicles is the most important economic thing we can work toward in the next 3 to 10 years.