Schumer says his plan is a bold one that would "break the nation's dependence on foreign oil." He plans on providing details on the plan Friday at the state University of Albany's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering.

Schumer's calling it the Manhattan Project and will give details during a one-day symposium being held by New Energy New York, a consortium of companies working on alternative energy products. Schumer helped put New Energy New York together in 2002.

That effort, which included local companies such as Plug Power Inc. (Nasdaq: PLUG - News) of Latham and MTI MicroFuel Cells Inc., a subsidiary of Mechanical Technology Inc. (Nasdaq: MKTY - News) of Albany, N.Y., now includes General Motors and more than 30 other companies.

Schumer said his plan would devote billions of dollars to new energy research and development. It would be administered by a completely new independent agency called the National Energy Efficiency Development Administration (NEEDA). The mission of the project would be to reduce imports of foreign oil by 5 percent in 2008, 20 percent in 2011, and 50 percent by 2015. NEEDA would receive $80 billion over 10 years, with money coming from scaling back incentives already going to oil companies.

"New energy technology companies across New York have a seminal role to play in making our nation safe and secure, free of foreign sources of energy," he said.

Schumer likened the new initiative to Franklin Delano Roosevelt making the world safe during WWII and "President Kennedy daring us to reach beyond the sky to explore space."
 

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