HOW YOU CAN HELP
Ask your congressional representative to sign a letter to President Clinton requesting that the Department of Transportation be allowed to increase fuel economy standards. In particular, ask that sport-utility vehicles and light trucks be required to meet the same standards as passenger cars.

Who to contact:

		off-site  House of Representatives

Call your congressional representative today. (House members only.) The Capitol Switchboard number is 202-225-3121. You can find their office phone numbers and e-mail addresses at the House of Representatives website. Or you can send a letter to your representative at US House of Representatives, Washington, D.C., 20515.

What you might say:
Ask them to sign the "clean car letter" to the president being circulated by Representatives Boehlert (R-NY), Waxman (D-CA), Greenwood (R-PA), and Dicks (D-WA). There are now over 70 members signed on to the letter. If your representative's office tells you that they have already signed on, thank them. If not, encourage them to do so right away. Tell your representative that it's time the public had the opportunity to choose more efficient, climate-friendlier cars and trucks.

BACKGROUND
Congress passed Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standards in 1975, in the wake of the energy crisis of the early 1970s. The standards require that the auto industry produce more fuel efficient vehicles -- enough to meet an average of 27.5 miles to the gallon for cars and 20.7 miles to the gallon for light trucks. While CAFE standards have been key to reducing oil consumption and global warming gases, those gains are being overtaken by the increasing number of miles driven and the explosion of sales of gas guzzling light trucks including SUVs, minivans, and pickups. Increases in fuel economy standards are long overdue.

WHAT'S HAPPENING
Tight fuel economy for cars and trucks is key to decreasing the amount of carbon dioxide polluting the air and fueling global warming. Gas-guzzling cars and light trucks are responsible for 20 percent of the carbon dioxide the United States pumps into the air each year. The more fuel vehicles use, the more carbon dioxide is produced. In fact, each gallon of gasoline burned results in 25 pounds of carbon dioxide.

Since the 1970s, cars have had to meet average fuel economy standards of 27.5 miles per gallon. SUVs and light trucks, which account for nearly half the passenger vehicles sold each year, enjoy a loophole that allows them to meet an average of 20.7 miles per gallon. Simply requiring them to meet the same standards as cars could, by 2010, cut carbon dioxide emissions 240 million tons each year.

		in clean vehicles  Greener SUVs

The auto industry has the technology to make SUVs and light trucks more fuel-efficient. But for the last five years, auto industry supporters in the House of Representatives have succeeded in freezing funding for the Department of Transportation to study the benefits of increased fuel economy standards (the first step toward raising the standards.) Last year, with your help, we reinvigorated the debate over fuel economy, getting 40 Senators on record in opposition to the House fuel economy freeze. Right now, UCS and other environmental organizations are making a push to get House members to sign a letter asking the president to oppose the House freeze on fuel economy standards if he is asked to support it as part of the annual Transportation Bill. Our hope is to build enough support in the House to kill the freeze before it even gets to the president's desk.