Plug in America is calling on Governor Schwarzenegger to "live up to his vow to turn back the clock on pollution" by reviving the historic ZEV (Zero Emissions Vehicle) program. How did they do it? The got people from 45 states and 13 countries, as well as few celebrities, to fax a letter to him asking to remove a million cars from roads, or replacing them by EVs.

On March 27, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) is voting to revise its ZEV program. The program once proudly called for 10 percent of all vehicles sold in California to be zero emission and resulted in thousands of electric vehicles on the road. The revision, however, "will profoundly weaken the program again instead of propelling our country toward a pollution-free future," Plug In America's letter states. Instead of the 10 percent mandate, the proposal would merely require each of America's major automakers to produce about 150 ZEVs per year through 2015. This is fewer than the number required under the mandate when the electric car was killed the first time in 2003, according to Plug In America Executive Director Chelsea Sexton.

Plug In America's letter also is signed by "Who Killed the Electric Car?" director Chris Paine. He will be filming the air board's March 27 vote for his sequel, "Who Saved the Electric Car."

[Source: Plug-in America]

Like many people, I first "met" Chelsea Sexton through the documentary film "Who Killed The Electric Car?" Last year, as part of the promotion for the movie, Chelsea spoke with AutoblogGreen about all sorts of things, including the fact that she won't buy a hybrid until there's a plug on one. She's sticking to her guns and has been working hard with Plug In America to put pressure on the automakers to make PHEVs. Chelsea says the she's heard from GM employees that without pressure from the public, the Volt would never been announced, much less gotten the promotion that we're seeing from GM. But why am I still typing? The whole reason for bringing a video camera to events is to allow us to present green car advocates in their own words.

We like Chelsea because you can stick a video camera in her face and she'll effortlessly float from topic to topic without losing focus or important details. The protest against Toyota that she mentions in the video was supposed to happen today, so we'll be on the lookout for new of that event.

Enjoy.

Related:

• Exclusive Q&A with Chelsea Sexton about the EV1, why the Prius gets a 'C', and who really killed the electric car
• Sundance's The Green does the "Drive" issue, the ABG review