In the 90's the United States experienced a growing and threatening pollution problem caused by its transportation industry.  The concentration of the most commonly used mode of transport was threatening society.  As a result, over the next thirty years the transportation industry was transformed, with new manufacturing techniques, fuel supplies and public infrastructure developed. 

The time – the 1890's when 160,000 horses in New York City deposited 3-4 million pounds of manure in the streets daily.  [Story told at ARPA-E conference in February]  The problem was solved by gasoline driven automobiles and trucks---which have now themselves become a problem.  Different pollution problems, but the same opportunity for transformational change.  The question is whether Michigan will lead, follow, or just get out of the way.  Henry Ford did not invent the internal combustion engine, the automobile, or even the assembly line.  He improved them, lowered the cost, and improved the quality—game changers.   Michigan,  let's just do it.