Byron McCormick resigns after DoE terminates funding for fuel cells

Last week, the federal government decided to shift the focus away from hydrogen and onto plug-in vehicles. This week, J. Byron McCormick has resigned from the U.S. Energy Department's Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technical Advisory Committee to protest this decision, saying he's "both perplexed and confused by [the] decision to zero the budget." Up until last year, McCormick had been serving as GM's executive director for fuel cell development.

In his resignation email, McCormick further states that his 35 years of experience showed "understandings as to what it takes to make a sustainable/viable business with products customers will purchase." The bitter note continues as McCormick says that plug-in technology is not realistic and is based on "idealized models or non-realistic or scientifically supportable assumptions." It's clear that Mr. McCormick was extremely upset by the government's actions. Read the whole email here. Thanks for the link, Greg!

[Source: Hydrogen & Fuel]