American Scientist

In his State of the Union address early this year, President Bush called for promoting energy independence for the United States while making dramatic improvements in the environment. The familiar rhetoric alluded to a comprehensive plan involving efficiency and conservation as well as developing cleaner technologies for domestic energy production. But the President soon departed from the familiar and entered the realm of the exotic when he asked Congress to take "a crucial step and protect our environment" in distinctly new ways. In the 21st century, he continued, "the greatest environmental progress will come about not through endless lawsuits or command-and-control regulations, but through technology and innovation." He proposed spending $1.2 billion on research into hydrogen-powered automobiles, which employ fuel cells.