----- Forwarded by Steven J Kean/NA/Enron on 10/16/2000 09:25 PM -----

	Cynthia Sandherr
	10/16/2000 12:48 PM
		 
		 To: Joe Hillings/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Tom Briggs/NA/Enron@Enron
		 cc: Steven J Kean/NA/Enron@Enron, Richard Shapiro/NA/Enron@Enron, Jeffrey 
Keeler/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Rob Bradley/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Allison 
Navin/Corp/Enron@ENRON
		 Subject: Fwd:Ford chairman calls climate change world's #1 issue


Joe and Tom:  Either Bill Ford is a major Democrat or this signals a major 
shift which serves as a strong indicator that Congress will face new 
pressures next Congress to address Global Warming.  This is truly a 
remarkable speech.

FORD PREDICTS END OF CAR POLLUTION
The Independent (UK)
6 October 2000

Internet:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/UK/Environment/2000-10/ford061000.shtml

The 100-year reign of the polluting internal combustion engine is coming to
an end, Bill Ford, chairman of the Ford Motor Company, said yesterday. It
will soon be replaced in motor vehicles by the hydrogen fuel cell, which
emits no pollution whatsoever and so can reduce the build-up of greenhouse
gases causing climate change, Mr. Ford, great-grandson of the company's
founder, Henry Ford, told the Greenpeace Business Conference in London.

In a remarkable speech from a motor manufacturer, in which he proclaimed his
own environmental credentials, Mr. Ford, 43, accepted that the automobile had
had a serious negative impact on the environment, and that his industry had
wrongly played down the threat from global warming.  And the head of the
world's second biggest car company raised eyebrows even further when he said
that he could foresee the day when people would not want to own cars, but
merely have access to mobility.

Detroit-born Mr. Ford, who has been chairman since the start of last year,
proclaimed that climate change was the most challenging issue facing the
world and that anyone who disagreed was "in denial". Ford itself had moved on
from that position, he said. But he felt the Kyoto protocol, the 1997 pact in
which the industrialised nations agreed to try to limit their emission of
greenhouse gases, would not provide deep enough cuts to halt global warming.
Only the marketplace, making new technology widely available, could tackle
the problem.

A fuel cell creates energy by an electrochemical process similar to that in a
battery: it lets hydrogen and oxygen react together to produce electricity
and water vapour. It does not run down or need recharging, working as long as
the hydrogen fuel is available, but most importantly, it does not produce any
CO2, the basic by-product of any carbon-based fuel such as oil, gas or coal.
Every major car company in the world is throwing huge sums into developing
the technology: Ford is spending $1bn (?690m) between now and 2004, while
Daimler-Chrysler, regarded as the leader in the field, has spent $700m. All
the main manufacturers have prototype fuel-cell cars running and there is a
race to bring them to market. Honda and Toyota expect to do so in 2003, while
Ford and Daimler-Chrysler are aiming at 2004.

"I believe fuel cells will finally end the 100-year reign of the internal
combustion engine," Mr. Ford said, adding that the technology was "the holy
grail" of the motor industry. Prophesying the demise of car ownership, he
said:  "The day will come when the whole notion of car ownership is
antiquated," he said. Mr. Ford was reflecting advanced motor industry
thinking, which suggests many people might not want to pay for a car of their
own if they could be guaranteed mobility on demand from a local hire network.