|
United States
Senate
Washington, DC 20515
Re: Support Higher Fuel Economy
Standards for Cars and Light Trucks
Dear
Senator:
The League of
Conservation Voters (LCV) is the political voice of the
national environmental community. 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.
During floor
consideration of S. 517, LCV urges you to support a
bipartisan amendment sponsored by Senators Kerry (D-MA),
Hollings (D-SC) and McCain (R-AZ) that would raise the
fuel economy standards for cars and light
trucks. We also urge you to oppose an
amendment that will be offered by Senators Levin (D-MI)
and Bond (R-MO), which offers a weak alternative that
would do little to save oil and nothing to improve auto
safety.
America’s cars,
sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and other light trucks
consume 8 million barrels of oil every day — some
40 percent of U.S. oil consumption — and emit 20 percent
of America’s carbon dioxide, a major contributor to
global warming. The Kerry/Hollings/McCain
amendment would raise the Corporate Average Fuel Economy
(CAFE) standards for cars, SUVs and other light trucks
to 36 miles per gallon by the year 2015. This
will reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign oil by as
much as 1 million barrels per day by 2016 and will help
to significantly curb global warming
pollution.
By contrast, the
Levin/Bond amendment would do little to improve vehicle
fuel economy. Their proposal would allow the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
to determine whether to raise the CAFE standards and on
what timeline. NHTSA has the authority to
raise CAFE standards and has failed to do so — and fleet
fuel economy is currently at its lowest point since
1980.
In addition,
Levin/Bond strikes important safety provisions from the
underlying energy bill. Kerry/McCain would
keep these provisions intact by directing NHTSA to issue
rules to improve rollover crashworthiness and to improve
the compatibility of cars and light trucks in the event
of a collision. NHTSA has failed to update
effectively auto safety standards for the last 25 years
although it estimates that more rigorous roof-crush
standards could prevent 3,700 deaths and serious
injuries per year, and that rollovers cause 10,000
deaths per year.
For these
reasons, LCV urges you to vote YES on the
Kerry/Hollings/McCain CAFE amendment and NO on the
Levin/Bond amendment. LCV's Political
Advisory Committee will consider including votes on
these issues in compiling LCV's 2002
Scorecard. If you need more
information, please call Betsy Loyless in my office at
(202) 785-8683.
Sincerely,
Deb
Callahan
President | 
.gif){kind=spacer}
