CONTACT: Jim Philipps
Thursday, December 6, 2001
202/225-3665
BOEHLERT TO SENATE PANEL: INCREASING FUEL ECONOMY IS GOOD FOR AMERICA
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-New Hartford) today urged a Senate committee to require cars and light trucks to be more fuel efficient. Boehlert appeared before the Senate Commerce Committee at the committee's request.
In August, Boehlert led an effort in the House to require vehicles to be more fuel efficient. Under his proposal, the average mileage for all passenger vehicles would have to rise to the level required for cars today, 27 miles per gallon.
In his testimony, Boehlert emphasized that the National Academy of Sciences has concluded that fuel efficiency could be improved without degrading vehicle safety or limiting consumer choices.
Boehlert, chairman of the House Science Committee and a leading environmentalist in Congress, told the Senate panel that raising fuel economy standards "is the single most significant step we could take as a nation to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, improve our national security, protect our environment and our economy, and assist our consumers."
Boehlert said increasing fuel economy is SUVs and light trucks should be easy "because in many ways it's hard to argue against tighter CAFE standards. We all know that we have to become less dependent on oil, and that CAFE standards unarguably would contribute to that. Moreover, fuel standards can save consumers money, which is one reason why pollsters consistently find public support for raising them."
