SUBJECT: Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2010-0799 and/or NHTSA-2010-0131
Dear Administrator Jackson and Secretary LaHood,
The proposed fuel efficiency and green house gas standards for passenger vehicles and light trucks are a laudable step in reducing dangerous global warming, increasing national security and improving our economy. Compared to business as usual, they will prevent millions of tons of global warming emissions, save consumers billions of dollars at the gas pump and reduce America's dependence on dirty fossil fuels. But these rules can and should be significantly strengthened. Please take the following steps to improve these rules:
-- The proposed rules allow light trucks to increase their fuel efficiency at a much slower rate than cars. For many years, this problem led automakers to build bigger vehicles to they could take advantage of weaker standards, which caused efficiency standards in the United States to stagnate. We should not make the same mistake twice and should strengthen the standards for light trucks on par with cars. We cannot afford to skew the rules in favor of gas-guzzling SUVs.
-- All but one of the alternative standards discussed in the rules would allow greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light trucks to increase through 2025, but dangerous climate change cannot be avoided unless greenhouse gases actually decrease. The rules should adopt the alternative that actually decreases carbon pollution every year through 2025.
-- The rules do not push car makers to look for technological innovation; they allow manufacturers to simply rely on small improvements to technology that already exists. As a result, even 13 years from now, in 2025, the U.S. fleet would still do no better than what some cars can already achieve today. By 2025, the United States should do better than the European Union and Japan, not continue to lag behind them.
Increasing the fuel efficiency of our vehicles is the low-hanging fruit in the battle against dangerous climate change, and we can no longer afford to pass up this tremendous opportunity. Please adopt the strongest possible standards and close the SUV loophole.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]