Rockwood Holdings CEO, Seifi Ghasemi, Urges Further Electrification of U.S. Transportation to Ensure National, Economic and Environmental Security

Ghasemi's Presentation at Credit Suisse Conference Supports Congressional Legislation Introduced Last Week toward Vehicle Electrification

PRINCETON, N.J., Jun 02, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Seifi Ghasemi, chairman and chief executive officer of Rockwood Holdings, Inc. /quotes/comstock/13*!roc/quotes/nls/roc (ROC 23.48, +1.13, +5.06%) ,speaking today at a Credit Suisse Investment conference on the Future of Energy in Washington D.C., urged policymakers and others to recognize that "electrification of our transportation system is essential for the future."

Specifically, Ghasemi urged that Congress give careful but prompt attention to legislation introduced last week in both the House and the Senate titled the "Electric Vehicle Deployment Act of 2010." He stressed, "I want to thank the sponsors of this proposed legislation for their vision and courage to move us forward toward a future where we are not dependent on imported oil."

Mr. Ghasemi noted that to maintain a transportation system dependent on foreign oil creates and extends three significant problems for the United States and the Western world in general:

-- National security -- "We import oil from very unstable and mostly hostile regions of the world. We are spending billions of dollars each year to have a military presence in the Middle East and other strategic parts of the world to ensure security of supply. To fuel our current transportation system, we are paying in treasure and blood."

-- Economic security -- "The U.S. spends over $1 billion per day on imported oil, which is a gigantic transfer of wealth to other, mostly hostile, regions of the world."

-- Environmental security -- "The issue is obvious. Gasoline powered cars do pollute."

Mr. Ghasemi stressed, "We believe, strongly, that electrification of our transportation system is the only logical solution to the above problems. As long as cars run on gasoline, we will be depending on unstable and hostile regions of the world. The constructive policies proposed in the new legislation will go a long way to facilitate the orderly deployment of this technology in a specific geographic area to demonstrate full scale feasibility. The final goal is freedom from imported oil."

The Electric Vehicle Deployment Act of 2010 was introduced on Thursday of last week to both houses of the U.S. Congress by House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming Chairman Ed Markey (D-MA), Rep. Judy Biggert (R-IL), Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-CA). The Senate bill, entitled the Electric Vehicle Deployment Act of 2010 is being introduced by Senators Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR).

Mr. Ghasemi concluded, "For our part as a leading producer of lithium, we will do our best to ensure an adequate, clean and secure supply of lithium to power the lithium ion batteries for electric cars of the future."

More information on the Electrification Coalition, the economics of vehicle electrification and the recently introduced legislation can be found at www.electrificationcoalition.org.

Rockwood Holdings is a global producer of specialty chemicals and advanced materials and the largest producer of lithium and lithium compounds. The company is also a founding member of the Electrification Coalition, a nonpartisan group of business leaders committed to promoting policies and actions that facilitate the deployment of electric vehicles on a mass scale in the United States.

Rockwood Holdings, Inc. is a leading global specialty chemicals and advanced materials company. Rockwood has a worldwide employee base of approximately 9,500 people and annual net sales of approximately $3 billion. The company focuses on global niche segments of the specialty chemicals, pigments and additives and advanced materials markets. For more information on Rockwood, please visit www.rocksp.com.

The information set forth in this press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 concerning the business, operations and financial condition of Rockwood Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates ("Rockwood"). Words such as "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "forecasts," "predicts" and variations of such words or expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Although Rockwood believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that its expectations will be realized. "Forward-looking statements" consist of all non-historical information, including any statements referring to the prospects and future performance of Rockwood. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in Rockwood's forward-looking statements due to numerous known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including, among other things, the "Risk Factors" described in Rockwood's 2009 Form 10-K on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Rockwood does not undertake any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which any such statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

SOURCE: Rockwood Holdings, Inc.