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United States
Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Re: S. 1173,
ISTEA II, support environmental
protections.
Dear
Senator:
The League of
Conservation Voters is the nonpartisan, political arm of
the national environmental movement. Each year, LCV
publishes the National Environmental Scorecard, which
details the voting records of Members of Congress on
environmental legislation. The Scorecard is distributed
to LCV members, concerned voters nationwide and the
press.
Soon you will be
voting on S. 1173, the Intermodal Surface Transportation
Efficiency Act (ISTEA II). This bill preserves integral
environmental protections such as the Congestion
Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) program, the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and Clean Air
Act.
During
consideration of the bill LCV urges you to support a
pro-environment amendment by Sen. Bumpers (D-AR) to
raise the current miles per gallon (CAFE) standard for
sport utility vehicles and other light trucks from 20.7
mpg to the current level for passenger cars-27.5
mpg-over five years. This amendment is likely to be the
most significant global warming vote this Congress and
would cut gasoline consumption by 16 billion gallons and
global warming pollution by 180 million metric tons per
year.
LCV urges you to
oppose any damaging amendments that would remove
environmental safeguards that clean up the air and
protect the natural environment. In particular, LCV
urges you to oppose the following:
- An
Environment & Public Works Committee amendment
which increases highway funding by $26 billion without
dedicating any of these funds to mass transit,
violating a 15 year old practice of reserving 20% of
new transportation funds for public transportation.
The amendment also funds environmentally damaging and
sprawl inducing road construction projects including
West Virginia's Corridor H.
- An amendment
by Sen. Smith (R-NH) to weaken the environmental
review procedures under NEPA by allowing
environmentally destructive projects to proceed
without adequate evaluation or
oversight.
- In addition
to a possible amendment to block implementation of new
air quality standards (LCV letter 2/26/98), Sen.
Inhofe (R-OK) is likely to offer an amendment to
expand the eligibility of CMAQ to allow the program's
funds to be spent on widening highways for
single-occupant vehicles, a use prohibited by current
law and by the Committee bill.
- An amendment
by Sen. Brownback (R-KS) to allow states to opt out of
the Transportation Enhancements Program, which would
undermine one of the most important sources of funding
for community projects that aid transportation and the
environment.
- Transit
minimum allocation amendments by Sens. Faircloth
(R-NC), Allard (R-CO), and Johnson (D-SD) that would
take funding away from transit programs that ensure
communities can make new investments in bus and rail
transit.
LCV's Political
Advisory Committee will consider including votes on S.
1173 in compiling LCV's 1998 Scorecard. Thank you for
your consideration of this issue.
Sincerely,
Deb Callahan
President | 
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