Conservation theater: as green as an SUV tow truck.

• Author: Balko, Radley
• Position: Citings - Sport utility vehicle - Brief article

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NEWLY ELECTED Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) wanted to promote the alternative energy being developed in his district. So when it was time to be sworn in, he decided to drive a prototype fuel cell car, General Motors' Equinox, from his home in Coming, New York, to the U.S. Capitol. The problem was that the distance between those two points is 280 miles, and the car's range tops out at 290.

So Massa drove one fuel cell car to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and had an suv tow a second fuel cell car behind him. He then switched cars and continued to the nation's capital while the SUV towed the first car back to Coming. Once Massa arrived in Washington, D.C., in the second fuel cell car, a...