DOT 29-06
Contact: Brian Turmail
Tel.: (202) 366-4570
Wednesday, February 22, 2006

U.S. Transportation Chief Says "Energy Diet" Needed To Curb U.S. Oil Addiction

Transportation industries will have to go on an “energy diet” to help end America’s addiction to oil, U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta said today in Omaha, NE after a ride with a Union Pacific locomotive engineer trained in the latest fuel-saving driving techniques.

The nation’s transportation chief said there are several innovative technologies and practices under way to help achieve the energy goals spelled out by President Bush during last month’s “State of the Union” address.

“America is the most mobile society on earth, and that’s not going to change,” Mineta said. “What is going to change,” he added, “is that our cars, trains, airplanes and ships must use significantly less oil, if they use oil at all, to move people and products in the future.”

While riding in the cab of a Union Pacific locomotive, Mineta saw how railroad engineers are saving millions of gallons of diesel fuel just by learning new skills for driving their trains.

“At the center of this program's success are employees who make it happen. Engineers are saving fuel because it's the right thing to do, just as it is the right thing for us as a nation to be innovative in saving energy,” Mineta said.

He said the Bush Administration is doing its part to encourage new energy technology, including the investment of nearly $10 billion since 2001 to develop cleaner, cheaper and more reliable alternative energy sources, including alternatives to gasoline and diesel fuels, better batteries for hybrid cars, and pollution-free hydrogen fuel cells.

“Quitting oil does not mean that America quits moving,” Mineta said.

Mineta and his deputy secretary, Maria Cino, are on the road this week to promote energy saving initiatives occurring in the nation’s transportation industries. This morning, at a stop in suburban Detroit, Mineta saw the latest in braking, steering and suspension systems under development for use in new vehicles, all of them designed to use less power and less fuel.

Cino will tour a plant in Malta, NY tomorrow where scientists are making lightweight composite materials for more fuel-efficient automobile parts. She also will visit Rhode Island where she will learn how the state’s switch from light bulbs to LEDs in traffic signals is saving millions of watts of electricity and hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars.

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