[326] in peace2
new CAFE considerations
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (F. AuYeung)
Thu Jul 20 04:37:00 2000
Message-Id: <200007200836.EAA13536@home-on-the-dome.mit.edu>
To: peace-list@MIT.EDU
cc: save@MIT.EDU
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2000 04:36:49 -0400
From: "F. AuYeung" <auyeung@MIT.EDU>
Victory on Fuel Economy Standards
from the Union of Concerned Scientists
Two years of effort by UCS staff and activists, working in concert with other national groups, paid off recently when the Senate reached an agreement to allow the government to consider higher Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. Setting higher fuel-economy standards (especially closing the loophole that allows SUVs to be 30 percent less efficient than cars) is the most important thing that the government could do to dramatically reduce global warming gases, reduce US dependence on foreign oil, and save consumers millions of dollars a year at the gas pump.
Opponents froze progress
For the last five years, auto industry-backed members of Congress placed a rider in the Transportation appropriations bill that prohibited the Department of Transportation from even studying the need for more fuel-efficient cars and trucks. This year was no different. And industry mounted a major lobbying/PR effort to keep the CAFE-freeze in place.
From freeze to jumpstart
Last year we succeeded in getting 40 senators to vote for a resolution opposing the freeze. This year we made an early push to gather signatures in the House on a letter asking the president to oppose the freeze. With the help of UCS members across the country, we convinced over 100 members of Congress to sign the letter. Then, when it began to appear that the House would not take this issue to a vote, our Senate champions -- Gorton (R-WA), Feinstein (D-CA), Bryan (D-NV) -- announced they would send a strong signal to the House of Representatives and the administration by bringing their resolution to a vote again this year.
A big lobbying push by environmental groups and concerned citizens, reinforced by high gas prices, assured us not only of the 40 votes from last year, but of quite a few more. Apparently wanting to avoid a vote, senators from auto-industry states offered a deal. Ironically, the deal gained us more than the vote would have. The agreement doesn't just allow the DOT to study fuel economy, it mandates such a study. And it sets a date. The DOT, working with the National Academy of Sciences, must begin a study of the benefits and costs of higher fuel-economy standards this fall and complete it by July 2001. After that the agency can make recommendations to the new administration on whether to raise the standards. We got precisely what we wanted and more than we expected: a jumpstart to the process of setting higher standards.
The push continues
UCS transportation analysts will be working to ensure that the DOT/NAS study is comprehensive and fair. And we'll be calling on the new president to take action early in his term to protect the environment and our pocketbooks by setting higher fuel-economy standards.
