It wasn't surprising to hear that Chrysler became a "green" company shortly after its new CEO, Robert Nardelli, took control. His corporation couldn't be left out of the ever-increasing number of companies with that distinction, some of which hypocritically have no dedication to the environment. What was surprising about Nardelli's declaration was that it wasn't forced by any new environmental legislation and that it had immediate consequences. His declaration resulted in the creation of ENVI, a group of engineers who will work solely on developing electric vehicles for Chrysler.

Just this past January, General Motors announced that it would build its own plug-in electric vehicle, the Chevrolet Volt, by 2010. It also has plans to turn one of its current models, the Saturn Vue, into a plug-in hybrid. The question "Who killed the electric car?" seems to have been replaced by "Who's bringing it back?" Hybrid gas-electric vehicle production is booming as well. The number of hybrid models available for sale in America will have grown from one in 1999 to 15 by the end of this year, not counting the partial hybrid systems offered on five current American models. Seven automakers now produce hybrid vehicles.

Such dedication to alternative fuels seems like an unlikely decision for corporations to make, yet they're becoming increasingly dedicated to building alternative-fuel vehicles every day. All the while, Congress isn't doing anything. While the Senate approved of a major increase in mandatory fuel-economy standards for cars and trucks this summer, it was the Democratically controlled House of Representatives that stopped the bill. It approved a much weaker bill, one the Senate and the White House disagreed about. The party that promised to support the environment in the 2006 midterm elections failed to support a bill to significantly decrease carbon dioxide emissions.

A number of Democrats, including Michigan's own John Dingell, couldn't vote against their automotive industry-based districts and constituents. This will always be the case. Automakers and their unions are some of the biggest lobbyists in Congress and will work incessantly to prevent new environmental regulations for vehicle emissions. Yet, even so, they are developing new hybrid and electric vehicles because they must listen to the desires of U.S. consumers. That is the forum in which voices are heard: the free market.

Because of the free market, the environmental movement is succeeding. Environmentalists have spread their message across the country, and the people have listened. They're concerned for the environment and willing to bet their next vehicle on it. Automakers across the world have been forced to respond to consumers, thus making them authentic green companies. The American people are serious about the environment so automakers have to be too.

The free market best serves all those involved. Consumers get environmentally friendly vehicles and the automakers make money. Democrats feared that forcing companies to produce extremely fuel-efficient vehicles would result in massive job losses. However, new technologies are developed so that the price of vehicles will not increase dramatically, and neither will massive layoffs accompany the production of the new hybrid vehicles.

The fuel economy goal set by Congress was an arbitrary and may in fact have been impossible to reach, as automakers complained. Allowing the automakers to heed the demand of consumers by choosing their own way to develop fuel-efficient vehicles ensures that the vehicles are both possible and practical to produce.

The environmentalist message is successfully being spread throughout the country and many are responding to it. The free market is ensuring that the automakers respond to it as people create more demand for environmental products. Government, on the other hand, is doing nothing. To expect congressmen to fight their constituents is false hope. Government is the theater in which special interests speak. The free market is the theater in which the people speak.

Patrick Zabawa can be reached at pzabawa@umich.edu.