Governor visits Hydrogen Conference
LONG BEACH – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was honored here Wednesday for a decade-long championship of eco-friendly hydrogen and alternative fuel vehicles.
The governor dropped by an alternative-fuel conference in Long Beach to pick up the award and preview a fleet of hydrogen-fueled cars and trucks from automakers like Honda, Toyota and Mercedes.
“All this is very important, even if it starts small,” Schwarzenegger told a few hundred people gathered for the National Hydrogen Association’s annual conference at the city’s convention center.
“Just like all big movements we’ve seen across the world. They start small and mushroom.”
Schwarzenegger’s visit to Long Beach comes as work continues on dozens of hydrogen-fuel stations in California – the “hydrogen highway” infrastructure promoted by the governor during his inaugural 2003 run for office.
He urged attendees, representing large firms, start-ups and universities across the country, to continue research and development into alternative fuels as a way to cut pollution and wean the nation from petroleum.
“Ultimately, we don’t care what kind of fuel (is preferred by consumers) as long as we move away from fossil fuels,” Schwarzenegger said. “We have to work to stop importing fuel from foreign countries … and countries that hate us.”
Later,
the governor visited the convention center floor, where dozens of automakers, fuel companies and researchers showed off the latest in fuel cell technology.There are now several hundred hydrogen-fuel cars and trucks roaming California’s roadways, and that number is expected to reach 45,000 by 2017.
The state’s Air Resources Board also estimates there will be as many as 100 hydrogen fueling stations scattered across California by then as well.
Schwarzenegger said motorists choosing alternative-fuel vehicles in the future will help cut greenhouse gases while immunizing themselves from oil price spikes.
“Of course you’ll all be laughing when the oil companies raise the price to $4, $5 or $6 a gallon,” he said.
The National Hydrogen Association conference concluded Wednesday afternoon following three days of meetings, panel discussions, demonstrations and addresses by some of the industry’s engineers, scientists and air-quality experts.
Throughout the conference, attendees lined up to test-drive hydrogen vehicles by Chevrolet, Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes, Toyota and Volkswagen.
