This Just In...

...from the Sierra Club

"The Sierra Club applauds Reps. Markey and Platts for moving forward with a bill that will make our environment, economy, and the nation as a whole safer and more secure. Making our cars and light trucks go farther on a gallon of gas is the single biggest step we can take toward saving American families money at the pump, ending our dangerous addiction to oil, and curbing global warming.

"In January the President proposed increasing CAFE standards at a rate of 4% per year. The Markey-Platts bill does just that. The common sense approach of ambitious but achievable goals set out in the bill enjoys strong bipartisan support--including five original cosponsors who voted against increasing CAFE standards when the House last took up the matter in 2005. With even noted environmental critic Sen. Ted Stevens introducing his own 40 miles per gallon bill for cars in the Senate, it is clear that the time has come for Congress to raise fuel economy standards for the first time since it originally set them in 1975.

"This bill will not only save consumers money and help us fight global warming, but it will also help us break our addiction to oil. Within 15 years, this bill will save us as much oil as we now import from the Persian Gulf. Making cars go further on each gallon of gas is like drilling for oil under Detroit instead of our sensitive coasts and lands. Raising fuel economy standards is the cleanest, cheapest, and safest way for America to reduce its dependence on oil.

"It is time for automakers to get off their tailpipe and get into gear to do their fair share to curb global warming and our oil addiction. They need to take the technology gathering dust on Detroit’s shelves and put it to work to help America tackle some of its most urgent problems. Requiring the American auto industry to make more fuel-efficient vehicles is auto mechanics, not rocket science. It will force them to compete with foreign automakers like Honda and Toyota who have used hybrids and other efficient vehicles to remake their brands and cruise to record profits while the Big Three teeter on the brink of insolvency."