US President George W. Bush spent an Earth Day marked by record-high gas prices promoting his support for hydrogen-powered fuel cell cars, but Democrats said that the vehicles were years away from reality and that the president needed to do more to relieve sticker shock at the pump.
Such was the state of the political battle over gas prices on Saturday: As Bush, on the second day of a four-day trip to California, toured the California Fuel Cell Partnership, a consortium of 31 car makers, energy companies and government agencies, Democrats fired off press releases from Washington attacking the administration's energy plans.
"This nation does not have to choose between a strong economy and a clean environment," Bush said in remarks at the Fuel Cell Partnership, where he was flanked by two boxy-looking prototype hydrogen cars.
PHOTO: AFP
"We can have both at the same time," he said.
Cars powered by fuel cells combine hydrogen and oxygen from the air in a chemical reaction. Bush said there were about 100 hydrogen cars on California roads, but as of late last year, only one was being tested by consumers, the Spallino family of Redondo Beach, California, who had an experimental Honda FCX worth about US$1 million.
"I strongly believe hydrogen is the fuel of the future," Bush said, adding that he thought that today's children would take their driving tests in hydrogen-powered cars.
Bush's remarks came as part of an effort to appear proactive on the politically sensitive issue of high gas prices, an issue that Democrats are increasingly using against the Republicans in this midterm election year.
Although the president declared in his State of the Union address that "America is addicted to oil" and then presented a series of alternative energy proposals, Democrats have said the plans are not adequate.
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