WASHINGTON — The knock on electric-powered cars is they just don't have the juice to get over the hill.

Kind of like Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, who just didn't quite have enough power to push through a longtime pet project in the waning days of the current session that would have given tax breaks for those who buy alternative-fuel and hybrid vehicles.

Using his position as a member of a conference committee of senators and representatives trying to hammer out a compromise on a corporate tax bill, Hatch tried but failed this week to persuade his House counterparts to include three amendments that encompass the provisions of his own legislation, the CLEAR Act.

That legislation would use tax incentives to promote alternative-fuel vehicles, assist refiners in the production of low-sulfur diesel and promote renewable sources of electricity like Utah's abundant geothermal steam.

Hatch calls it the "most comprehensive legislation Congress has ever considered to promote the use of alternative fuel vehicles and advanced car technologies among consumers."

But House members of the conference committee weren't buying it, voting 2-4 to reject the amendments.

Hatch has been trying to get the CLEAR Act, or legislation like it, passed for the past six years, enlisting the support of an unlikely coalition of Republicans and Democrats, the automobile industry and environmentalists.

In fact, Toyota, Ford and Honda broke ranks with the rest of the automotive industry to support the legislation, the first time in history that the industry had not stood together on environmental legislation.

Hatch points out that the United States is 97 percent dependent on oil for transportation needs, and "if we want to clean the air and address our nation's energy dependency, we must increase the use of alternative fuels in our transportation sector."

Hatch has a bipartisan coalition of 13 co-sponsors, including Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee, and former first lady and now Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.

The bill, officially called the Clean Efficient Automobiles Resulting from Advanced Car Technologies Act, has languished in the Finance Committee since March 4, 2003.

Hatch touts the legislation as a boon to Utah, saying Utahns' top environmental concern is clean air.

"Vehicle emissions are the top source of pollution in Utah, and diesel trucks and buses are the heaviest polluters on the road," he said. "It's in our interest to ensure that even our small refiners are able to produce low-sulfur diesel."

As to the alternative fuels for generation of electricity, "Utah has a large resource of geothermal steam all ready to go, which displaces the need for these other fuels (coal, gas and nuclear) and their side effects."