WASHINGTON, July 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Robbie Diamond, president of the Electrification Coalition (EC), released the following statement following the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee's bipartisan 19-4 approval of legislation designed to jump start the deployment of electric vehicles and infrastructure in the United States:

"Today, Republicans and Democrats have taken another critical step toward finally ending our nation's dangerous dependence on oil. We strongly applaud Committee members of both parties who supported electrification legislation, which represents the best way to fundamentally deal with the dangers posed by oil dependence, from the Gulf tragedy to threats in the Middle East. Now it is critical that Democrats and Republicans alike have the opportunity to support this measure on the Senate floor. There is a bipartisan, bicameral energy solution before us, and that is electrification of transportation."

Committee members voting in favor included: Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Ranking Member Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Evan Bayh (D-IN), Robert Bennett (R-UT), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Richard Burr (R-NC), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Bob Corker (R-TN), Byron L. Dorgan (D-ND), Tim Johnson (D-SD), Mary L. Landrieu (D-LA), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), James E. Risch (R-ID), Bernard Sanders (I-VT), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Mark Udall (D-CO), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).

On May 27, Republicans and Democrats in both the House and the Senate introduced legislation designed to advance the wide-scale deployment of electric vehicles and to develop the infrastructure needed to support them. The Senate bill, entitled the "Electric Vehicle Deployment Act of 2010" was introduced by Senators Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR). The House legislation, entitled the "Electric Drive Vehicle Deployment Act of 2010," was cosponsored by House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming Chairman Ed Markey (D-MA), Rep. Judy Biggert (R-IL), Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), and Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-CA).

The legislation echoes recommendations put forward by the Electrification Coalition, a nonpartisan, not-for-profit group of business leaders committed to promoting policies and actions that facilitate the deployment of electric vehicles on a mass scale in order to combat the economic, environmental, and national security dangers caused by our nation's dependence on petroleum. The EC's Electrification Roadmap, released in November 2009, proposed a set of policies in which geographic areas would compete to be selected as electrification deployment communities: specific areas in which targeted, temporary financial incentives are employed so that all of the elements of an electrified transportation system are deployed simultaneously.

SOURCE Electrification Coalition