ADVANCED ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES 



915 



When the conference report returned to the House on August 31, 

 1976, Representative John T. Myers (Republican of Indiana) raised 

 the question of how we were going to get all the electric energy to 

 recharge the batteries of 10 million electric cars. McCormack responded 

 that most of the vehicle batteries would be plugged in to electric 

 outlets at night, when there was plenty of off-peak load capacity to 

 handle recharging. Pressed on the issue by Myers as to where the addi- 

 tional power would come from, McCormack answered that coal and 

 nuclear energy would have to generate it, and also: 



Wc must look at this matter very seriously, and consider the possible necessity 

 of eliminating these harassing lawsuits which use extraneous fine points of the law 

 and stretch them beyond all reasonable limits. 



PRESIDENT FORD VETOES ELECTRIC VEHICLE BILL 



On September 13, President Ford vetoed the bill on three grounds: 



(1) It is simply premature and wasteful for the Federal Government to engage 

 in a massive demonstration program — such as that intended by the bill — before the 

 required improvements in batteries for such vehicles are developed; (2) ERDA already 

 has adequate authority * * * to conduct an appropriate electric vehicle development 

 program; and (3) Private industry already has substantial experience and interest in 

 the development of practical electric vehicle transportation. I am not prepared to 

 commit the Federal Government to this type of massive spending program which I 

 believe private industry is best able to undertake. 



McCormack and his allies organized a major national effort to 

 override the veto. He reflected: 



But for me, as a rather junior member, without asking anyone else's permission, 

 I simply said : "This is what I am going to do." I told the Speaker and the committee 

 chairman: "I'm going on the floor and move to override." 



Night letters went out to hundreds of influential organizations and 

 individuals throughout the Nation. The responses began to pour in to 

 House and Senate Members from the International Brotherhood of 

 Electrical Workers, the National Council of Electric Companies, the 

 Edison Electric Institute and others. Dr. Edward E. David, Jr., execu- 

 tive vice president of R. & D. at Gould, Inc., a manufacturer of battery 

 products (former Presidential science adviser, who also testified before 

 the committee on behalf of the electric vehicle bill) helped organize 

 persuasive letters to Congressmen in Gould's sales area. 



Teague, Mosher, and Goldwater joined McCormack in a "Dear 

 Colleague" letter the day after the veto, countering the President's 

 statements. They argued that "this bill will provide the incentive for 

 engineering development of even more advanced batteries and other 

 electric vehicle technologies needed in the future." They contended 

 that the program would not be in competition with private industry: 



It docs provide government support for development of safe, higher performance 

 electric vehicles which will be designed and produced by private industry. This 



