Vote for a Smarter, Cleaner Energy Future - Oppose Anti-environmental, Anti-consumer Amendments

March 12, 2002

Dear Senator:

As the Senate debates the Energy Policy Act of 2002, you have an opportunity to move us forward to a smarter, cleaner energy future focused on oil-saving efficiency measures, diversification to clean renewable energy sources and consumer protections. We urge you to vote for increased miles per gallon standards for cars, light trucks and other SUVs, a significant shift to clean energy, and protections for consumers and sensitive public lands.

However, some special interests are campaigning for fundamentally flawed energy legislation that would do little if anything to increase energy security, reduce pollution, save money, and create jobs. Big oil and energy companies are pushing for legislation, like the House-passed H.R. 4. This dirty and dangerous bill would open America's special places to oil drilling, use $38 billion in taxpayer dollars to subsidize polluting industries that cause smog, global warming, oil spills, and radioactive waste production, and roll back environmental and public health protections. We urge you to oppose any energy legislation that opens the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other pristine public lands to oil and gas drilling, forfeits a safe environment and consumer protections, or increases taxpayer subsidies to polluters.

We urge you to support:

• Increased Automobile Fuel Economy Standards. Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE), or miles-per-gallon standards, enacted in 1975, doubled fuel economy for new cars. Unfortunately, fuel economy has reached a 21-year low. A National Academy of Sciences report demonstrates that each automaker could produce a fleet of cars and light trucks that meets a fuel economy standard of 37 miles per gallon (mpg) within 10-15 years. The Senate energy bill would increase fuel economy to 35 mpg by 2013, saving one million barrels of oil each day when fully implemented-more than 12 times the projected daily yield from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in 2013. The bill would also improve crashworthiness of vehicles and implement a tougher rollover standard that would save 3,000 to 5,000 lives each year. Unfortunately, Senators Levin (D-MI) and Bond (R-MO) are proposing a do-nothing amendment that strips the auto safety provisions from the bill and asks NHTSA (the National Highway Safety Traffic Agency) to set standards. NHTSA has failed to increase fuel economy for cars for 15 years. We urge you to support strong CAFE standards oppose Levin-Bond. We also urge you to vote against any efforts to roll back the Clean Air Act vehicle emission standards.
  
  
• Renewable Energy Standards and Funding for Clean Energy. Clean, renewable energy such as wind, geothermal and solar energy is becoming increasingly cost-competitive, and can help protect consumers against fluctuating fossil fuel prices. We urge you to support the Jeffords (I-VT) amendment to set a renewable portfolio standard, requiring an increasing percentage of electricity to come from clean renewable sources, reaching 20% of power generation by 2020. This standard, combined with energy efficiency policies, would reduce global warming pollution from power plants by one third and could save consumers an additional $70 billion per year by 2020, compared to business as usual. We urge you to support renewable energy and vote for the Jeffords amendment. We urge you to vote against a do-nothing amendment offered by Sen. Kyl (R-AZ). Sen. Kyl's amendment would replace renewable energy standards with a voluntary "green pricing" provision that does not guarantee any increase in clean renewable energy generation. We also urge you to oppose any amendment to include Municipal Solid Waste (garbage) incinerators in the definition of renewable energy. These facilities are a leading source of toxic air emissions, such as dioxin, mercury and lead.
  
  
• Public Lands Protections. Some places are too wild to be open to any type of industrial development, and those that are deserve strong protections and careful consideration. Places of incredible beauty like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, our national monuments, and wild places across the West are all threatened by oil and gas development. We urge you to protect these sensitive areas from oil and gas exploration and drilling and oppose any amendments that would allow irresponsible drilling or otherwise reduce protections for our public lands. There is no reason to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling. Increased fuel economy provisions will save far more oil and save consumers money. Please vote against cloture on any amendment to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration and drilling.
  
  
• Important Consumer Protections. We urge you to support several pro-consumer amendments, including: Sen. Wyden's (D-OR) amendment to create an Office of Consumer Advocacy to represent consumers on energy issues before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and other agencies; Senator Feinstein's (D-CA) amendment to provide for regulatory oversight by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) of derivative transactions on energy commodities; and several amendments offered by Senators Cantwell (D-WA), Wyden (D-OR), and Dayton (D-MN) to strengthen regulatory authority to protect the public interest when setting rates and regulating mergers.

Americans deserve a smarter, cleaner energy future. Strong fuel economy and renewable energy standards and other incentives to increase energy efficiency and renewable energy, will save consumers money, reduce demand for foreign oil and protect our public health and environment. Please support these policies and oppose any energy legislation that opens the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other pristine public lands to oil and gas drilling and increases taxpayer subsidies to polluters.

Sincerely,