BOSTON (AP) - As fuel prices soar and drivers search for ways to save money, lawmakers are pushing a bill they say would make Massachusetts a national leader in the drive to ease dependence on gasoline. The bill […] would reward drivers who buy hybrid or alternative fuel cars with tax breaks, free transponders to get through tolls quicker and open access to HOV lanes. [It] would require that at least half of the state's fleet of vehicles run on alternative fuels by 2010, and establish an Alternative Fuels Institute at the University of Massachusetts. […] according to Republican Sen. Bruce Tarr, the bill's author

I hope this catches on. I think if our government finds ways to subsidize a transition to hybrid technology, we have a better chance of working out way off of oil based fuels. Aside from that, as China consumes more crude, I think it would be a massive strategic advantage to reduce our nations need/consumption to the point that it is no longer our Achilles heel.