We here at the Sierra Club are extremely happy to see an environmental issue on the front-page of Dailykos. Yet we were slightly disheartened by the idea that an increase in CAFE is not something worth fighting for in this year's energy bill. An increase in fuel economy standard is a vital step in the fight against global warming. Consumers can and should play an important role in making smart choices about the type of car, SUV or truck they chose to drive and how much they drive it. But the market and consumer action alone can not have any hope to actually turn the tide on global warming. More below.
While our big goal is to reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2050, an integral part of that is to increase CAFE standards to 35 MPG by 2020 as was voted for in the Senate Energy Bill. In fact 65 Senators were willing to vote for an energy bill that included an increase in CAFE standard. Our statement on the eve of the vote, http://www.sierraclub.org/...
There is a real chance that the Senate Energy bill with the CAFE provision can be combined with the House version, which doesn't have CAFE, but does include a Renewable Energy Standard to create an Energy bill in conference that takes both meaningful steps forward in the fight against global warming and for energy independence. America needs a CAFE increase and we need the progressive community to stand up for one. Yes the U.S. automakers aren't willing to do this on their own, and yes consumers are starting to get the message and act accordingly, but the shift won't happen fast enough without CAFE and there are hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs at stake -- we can help save them with a kick in the pants to the U.S. auto industry. Not to mention the vital signal the move would provide to the rest of the world that the U.S. is finally starting to take real action to end its oil addiction and fight global warming.