The Honorable Ray Mabus Secretary United States Navy

Letter

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that he has written a personal letter to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus urging him to choose General Motors' Honeoye Falls plant to design and build high-tech fuel cell technologies that will ultimately be deployed in a new fleet of underwater vehicles. Currently, the Department of the Navy is seeking a new manufacturer for the development of a cutting edge fuel cell that would be used to power a fleet of Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUV). The Navy has award it to GM to produce at the Monroe county facility. The contract would be worth $1.6 million and would be for the design and production of test fuel cells. It could also lay the ground work for mass production of the fuel cells when the final designs are approved.

The Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Program was approved at part of the FY 2009 Defense Budget. The Navy is actively seeking locations at which to produces fuel cells for this project. Schumer is asking for the Navy to select GM to produce them at the Honeoye Falls facility.

"GM's Honeoye Falls fuel cell center and the U.S. Navy is a match made in heaven that can bring millions in investment and new jobs to the Rochester-Finger Lakes region. Honeoye Falls is on the cutting edge of the fuel cell industry and getting this contract would burnish that reputation," Schumer said. "Developing the Navy's fuel cell would be a huge economic shot in the arm for the region and add jobs for people in Monroe County."

A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that combines hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, with water and heat as its by-product. As long as fuel is supplied, the fuel cell will continue to generate power. Since the conversion of the fuel to energy takes place via an electrochemical process, not combustion, the process is clean, quiet and highly efficient -- two to three times more efficient than fuel burning.

According to assessments by the National Academies and the Hydrogen Technical Advisory Committee, fuel cell technology is not only meeting and exceeding the government's long-term research and development plan, but it is also on track to achieve commercial viability by 2015. As the U.S. considers pathways to achieve aggressive goals for gas and greenhouse gas reductions, it is critical to develop diverse technological options, like fuel cells.

Other countries are aggressively pursuing hydrogen and fuel cells including Japan and Germany, which plan early commercialization in 2015. The U.S. is currently a leader in automotive fuel cell technology, but must continue to invest in this research to remain a leader, particularly in places like the Rochester-Finger Lakes region. Right now, the region is a national hub for fuel cell technologies and is home to research plants that employ hundreds of New Yorkers. The community has responded to the rapidly growing field by developing a clean energy business incubator and using local colleges and universities like the Rochester Institute of Technology to research the next generation of fuel cells. Bringing the Navy's new effort to the Honeoye Falls plant would boost the region by aligning it with a new reliable partner that will be in need of fuel cells in the near and future term.

The full text of the letter is below:

The Honorable Ray Mabus
Secretary
United States Navy
Washington, DC 20585

Dear Secretary Mabus:

I write to you in regard to the United States Navy's goal of finding a reliable manufacturer of hydrogen fuel cell engines for deployment in their Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUV). I strongly recommend General Motors' Honeoye Falls plant as an ideal location to build the high-tech fuel cell technology that will be deployed in this new fleet of UUVs.

As you know, the Honeoye Falls site is a one-of-a-kind facility in the United States. GM's award-winning fuel cell Chevrolet Equinox vehicle runs on the fuel cell technology developed at this lab through its partnership with the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). The fuel cell system created here through this partnership is genuine and already in use, and expected to be ready for mass production in 2015 -- less than 5 years from now. From an innovation standpoint, the GM facility's close geographic proximity and longstanding synergies with local research institutions makes building these fuel cell engines in Rochester a natural fit.

Following the announcement that funding for fuel cell research will be cut in the 2010 transportation budget, I have heard from many of the 400 employees at the Honeoye Falls facility, all of whom are very proud of the their work and believe the research and development taking place at this site is exactly what General Motors needs to get back on track. The work at this facility is essential to ensuring that the United States remains at the forefront of commercializing this technology on a broad international scale. While there is no one single solution to achieving energy independence, there is no question fuel cell technology is key to our national strategy, and GM's Honeoye Falls facility must continue to play a part in that.

Once again, I urge you to choose Honeoye Falls as the site to develop the United States Navy's next generation high-tech fuel cell technology needs. Thank you for your consideration, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,
Charles E. Schumer
United States Senate

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