The push comes as an electric and natural gas vehicles bill that addresses a number of the coalitions concerns is expected to come up for a procedural vote during the lame-duck session.

Frederick Smith, CEO of FedEx Corporation, said in a statement:

Our main focus continues to be the promotion of a comprehensive policy framework for accelerating consumer adoption of PHEVs and EVs. … Fleet electrification alone will not solve our pressing energy security challenges, but by bringing costs down, it will provide a critical boost to the consumer electric vehicle market.

The so-called Electrification Coalition — which includes among its membership the heads of GE, Siemens and FedEx — released a new report, the Fleet Electrification Roadmap, outlining the proposals. The report calls on the United States to reduce its dependence on foreign oil by encouraging electric vehicle development.

“This excessive reliance on a single fuel to power a key component of our economy has left the United States hostage to a global oil market that is likely to become increasingly volatile,” the report says.

Electric vehicle development would come with a number of benefits, including new jobs and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, the report says.

High penetration rates of grid-enabled vehicles—vehicles propelled in whole or in part by electricity drawn from the grid and stored onboard in a battery— could radically minimize the importance of oil to the United States, strengthening our economy, improving national security, and providing much-needed flexibility to our foreign policy. Simultaneously, such a system would clear a path to dramatically reduced economy-wide emissions of greenhouse gases.

Though electric vehicle production is up, “the long-term market outlook for these vehicles is somewhat uncertain.” By passing a number of policies, electric vehicles could make up as much as 7 percent of new vehicle purchases by 2015, the report finds, putting as many as 200,000 electric vehicles on the road.

Key policy recommendations:

• “Expand the tax credits for light-duty grid-enabled vehicles purchased in deployment communities to include private sector fleets.”
• “Create tax credits for medium- and heavy-duty grid-enabled vehicles deployed in fleets with greater than 10 vehicles in operation.”
• “Create clean renewable energy bonds for fleet vehicle charging infrastructure, and make municipal and regional transit authorities eligible for the bonds.”
• “Extend the existing tax credit for electric vehicle charging infrastructure through 2018 and expand the range of eligible costs.”
• “Allow immediate expensing of GEV purchases and supporting infrastructure for operators of certain fleets.”
• “Make tax credits available for the purchase of qualifying grid-enabled vehicles and related charging infrastructure transferable.”
• “Incentivize the establishment of special purpose entities to facilitate bulk purchasing of electric drive vehicles by fleet operators.”

The news that Palin is speaking at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, however, protects her from a little of the criticism that she’s skipping established political events because they won’t pay her. The SRLC conference doesn’t pay its speakers and is seen as must-attend run-up to the presidential primaries.

“An article containing a false headline has been published by Capitol Hill newspaper Politico today regarding an issue with expansion of the National Labor Relations Board.

This article concerns two letters; one issued by ACU and another issued by a separate organization.

Mr. David Keene’s name was on a letter prepared by another organization.  This was a personal decision on his part and he was not representing ACU at the time.  No permission was given by ACU, and no logo was provided by ACU, to the organization who issued the letter in question.

ACU’s policy position on this issue has not changed and it will not change.

ACU’s positions on important policy issues have never been for sale.

ACU does not support moving businesses under the jurisdiction of the NLRB or expanding the federal government’s power, reach or authority under the NLRB.

In fact, as we pointed out last year when auto bailouts were first proposed, the actions of organized labor in Detroit helped lead to a downfall of America’s storied auto industry.  This is a clear example of what can happen when organized labor extends its fingers too far into American business.

In this regard, ACU stands with the policy that FedEx should not be placed under the NLRB.

This was ACU policy – before and after – any letters in question were drafted.

No contributions, to date, regarding this issue have been given or promised to ACU from any organization mentioned in the Politico article.

For the record.

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The American Conservative Union asked FedEx for a check for $2 million to $3 million in return for the group’s endorsement in a bitter legislative dispute, then flipped and sided with UPS after FedEx refused to pay.

For the $2 million+, ACU offered a range of services that included: “Producing op-eds and articles written by ACU’s Chairman David Keene and / or other members of the ACU’s board of directors. (Note that Mr. Keene writes a weekly column that appears in The Hill.)”

The ACU, of course, heads up the massive yearly Conservative Political Action Conference. Its ratings for members of Congress are repeated by conservative Republicans all the time — “I have a 99 percent lifetime rating from the ACU,” for example. This is a big, embarrassing deal.

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