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Call Your Senators. Ask Them to Support Conservation Measures
in the Energy Bill
On March 11, the Senate began debate on a comprehensive energy
bill which is vital both to environmental protection and national
security. Two of the most urgent and historic challenges we
face as a nation are inextricably related to our national energy
policy - reducing oil dependence on nations that support terrorism,
and global climate change caused largely by burning oil and
other fossil fuels. Action is needed now to reduce U.S. reliance
on foreign oil, improve air quality, address global warming,
and preserve ecologically sensitive public lands.
The U.S. urgently needs to be more energy independent, and
we need to accomplish that in a way that reduces our use of
polluting fossil fuels. Before the Senate are several basic
choices which will affect our nation's energy policy for the
next generation:
- Raising fuel economy standards (CAFE standards), which are
now at their lowest level since 1980!
- Investing in clean and renewable energy and transportation
technologies.
Sens. Kerry (MA) and Hollings (SC) will offer an amendment
to set one CAFE standard for all passenger vehicles and increase
it to 35 miles per gallon (mpg) by 2013. Current standards are
27.5 mpg for cars and 20.5 mpg for SUVs, minivans, and light
trucks.
Communicating via telephone directly to your senators this
week is critical. If we lose on the issue of CAFE standards,
it would be a terrible missed opportunity. Our nation, our children
and our planet cannot afford to lose this one; and we will only
win with considerable grassroots pressure. We have a big fight
on our hands.
Because of the recent anthrax scares, impediments to mail delivery
on Capitol Hill still exist. Hill staffers tell us that e-mail
and fax delivery are noticed, but do not carry the same weight
that personal phone calls carry. Senators are getting a large
volume of calls from our opponents; we need you to counter this,
and make our message heard.
Please take five minutes of your time today and call both of
your senators' offices in Washington, DC. - and ask everyone
you know to do the same.
Communicate the following:
- State your affiliation and express your concern about U.S.
dependence on foreign oil and the pollution caused by our
energy use.
- You support the greatest feasible increase in Corporate
Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards and the establishment
of a single standard for all passenger vehicles, including
cars, SUVs, minivans, and light trucks. Specifically, you
support the Kerry-Hollings proposal to increase CAFE standards
to 35mpg by 2013. You oppose leaving fuel economy standards
to the National Highway Safety Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA).
- You support tax incentives for consumers to purchase hybrid-electric
vehicles and investment in research to develop clean and efficient
transportation and energy technologies.
- You would like to know where your senator currently stands
on CAFE standards and will be watching his/her vote in the
coming weeks.
CALL 202-224-3121 AND ASK TO BE CONNECTED
WITH YOUR SENATOR'S OFFICE
Many thanks for your important efforts!
General Assembly
The 213th General Assembly (2001) calls upon the U.S. Congress
and the Bush administration, together with industry, agriculture,
and individuals, to face the compelling urgency to promote energy
conservation and efficiency and also to accelerate the transition
from a fossil fuel base to a solar-hydrogen base for the economy.
It also calls on the U.S. and other governments, on U.S. and
international development and lending agencies, and on national
and multinational corporations and banks to desist from the
large-scale projects, such as old-growth timber cutting and
forest fragmentation, megadam construction, and oil exploration
and drilling in vulnerable regions, that devastate ecosystems,
threaten wildlife survival, and displace indigenous people.
And in 1998, the General Assembly urged all nations to develop
policies concerning renewable energy, energy and fuel efficiency,
and reforestation that will reduce their emissions.
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