Mr. McCloud Goes to Washington By Erica Williams April 30 -- With clear blue skies and a sparkling Pacific Ocean providing an appropriate backdrop, a caravan of hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles paraded off the Santa Monica Pier Wednesday morning launching a cross-country journey to promote energy independence. Cowboy environmentalist and actor Dennis Weaver kicked off the two-week “Drive to Survive” tour that will showcase cutting-edge vehicles powered by hydrogen, electricity, compressed natural gas and other alternative fuels, making pit stops at 18 cities along the way from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. “We’re going to change the world,” Weaver proclaimed. “At least we’re going to change the energy that propels the world.”
Best known for his Emmy-award winning role of Chester in "Gunsmoke," television’s longest running series, Weaver founded the Institute of Ecolonomics that created and produced the event. The hands-on “ecolonomist,” who also stared as "McCloud," led the pack of half-a-dozen vehicles as it left the starting line. Dressed in all black in trademark western gear topped by a classic Stetson hat, an exuberant and charismatic Weaver, 79, rallied a throng of enthusiastic supporters. They included drivers, several state and local government officials, environmentalists and celebrity friends, including Larry Hagman, Linda Gray, Mike Farrell and Shelley Fabares. Hydrogen, Weaver said, is the answer. “We need a product that supports our economy,” he said, “a product that is clean and inexhaustible. To me, that is hydrogen, and that’s why we’re driving hydrogen home on our way to Washington D.C.” The move is necessary, Weaver said, because “a hydrogen economy will free us from activities that are trashing our planet,” boost the economy and ensure national security. “As long as we are dependent on foreign oil for the fuel that powers our economy, folks, we are vulnerable,” he said. Mayor Richard Bloom, touting Santa Monica as a city that’s “ahead of the curve when it comes to sustainability,” agreed. “We know that the system we’ve inherited of fueling vehicles with fossil fuels isn’t working, even though it has left us with some really cool cars and some really great memories,” Bloom said. “We also know what’s wrong with that system,” he added. “We have the ability and the technology available now to transition into a new modern energy system that will serve the world and future generations.” When the caravan arrives in the Capitol on May 14, Weaver will deliver petitions containing thousands of signatures to Congress urging lawmakers “to make a declaration of energy independence by increasing fuel efficiency, promoting alternative fuels and decreasing our dependence on foreign oil.” In particular, Weaver said, he will ask representatives to start with nominally raising the so-called CAFÉ standards governing fuel efficiency. “If we increased our miles per gallon by five, just five,” Weaver said, “that would equal the whole amount (of oil) we are importing from the Middle East.” Transitional technologies such as hybrids, bio-diesels and compressed natural gas that are here today can pave the way to a future hydrogen economy, Weaver said. To get there, a significant investment in infrastructure (that presently does not exist) is also needed. Weaver introduced Terry Tamminen, executive director of Environment Now, as the man who could solve the “chicken and the egg problem” that has fuel suppliers and auto manufacturers pointing to each other. “The state of California can act as our lender to help the first 400 hydrogen stations open in the state in the next five years,” Tamminen said. The state can also provide incentives for consumers to buy as many as 40,000 hydrogen vehicles, he added, “so you can afford to buy a Hydrogen vehicle before the year 2010.” A bill that could pave the way is currently winding its way through the state legislature, Tamminen said. Rep. Fran Pavley has authored AB 740, a bill that would provide the first $500 million in state bonds to get the infrastructure up and running by 2007. The bill, which is enjoying broad bipartisan support, would go before the voters next March as a proposition once it makes it out of the legislature, Tamminen said. Auto manufacturers, including BMW, have committed to bringing “tens of thousands” of internal combustion engines using hydrogen to the market by 2007 and fuel cell cars by 2010 if the infrastructure can be delivered, Tamminen said. Among the tour’s pit-stops are San Francisco, Sacramento, Reno, Salt Lake City, Kansas City, Chicago, Cleveland and Detroit. Weaver and his ecolonomist posse will celebrate at the finish line in Washington, D.C. with a hands-on vehicle expo and competition. Weaver co-founded his non-profit institute with his wife Gerry ten years ago. The think-tank works to demonstrate that “creating a symbiotic relationship between a strong economy and a healthy ecology is the only formula for a sustainable future,” according to the group’s mission statement. Cruising into the Future Larry Dashiell, a drive participant and auto technology professor at College of the Desert in Palm Desert, eagerly displayed a hip cherry-red, hydrogen-powered 1964 Ford Cobra carefully detailed and smartly outfitted in chrome. “It’s a toy,” smiled Dashiell, “but it proves a technology.” The vehicle belongs to Carroll Shelby, the designer who originally created the Cobra for Ford, Dashiell said. Shelby donated the car for a hydrogen-fueled automobile speed record project slated for next summer. Jim Heffel built the Cobra’s hydrogen-powered engine. The original 460 cubic inch engine was “stroked” or modified to 526 cubic inches, Dashiell said. It’s a normal internal combustion engine, he added, with the exception of the fuel system, which is designed to run on gaseous hydrogen. The fuel tank holds two to
three gallons of hydrogen gas at 3600 pounds pressure. Comparatively,
the same tank can hold eight to 10 gallons of regular gas. “In other words, you can’t put the vacuum cleaner hose on the exhaust pipe and commit suicide,” Dashiell joked. Erica Williams |
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