This California ZEV issue is not merely a matter of people being forced to buy what they do not want (OGJ, July 22, 2002, p. 76). The environmental groups have made it clear that ZEVs are needed and wanted and that technology exists for building them. Taking them at face value, American environmentalists are missing out on a bonanza and I cannot understand why. They appear to have distinct knowledge of how to manufacture and market ZEVs profitably and given the entrepreneurial spirit that made this nation great, they should commit their money, time, and effort to producing the ultimate ZEV. To hold another company responsible for building certain products is ludicrous. GM, Ford, and others build internal combustion vehicles and should until another profitable technology becomes available. To force a person or company to embark on an industrial mission with no profitable future is perhaps illegal and certainly immoral, unethical, and against natural law.
Let's face it, only the environmental groups are able to see the path forward to ZEVs with clarity and they are doing this nation a huge disservice, in fact a criminal disservice, by not embarking on the road to zero emission America at their market risk. If they do not take their ideas and translate them into action soon, we the people should sue the pants off of them for polluting this nation unnecessarily!
John Lagace
Kingwood, Tex.
