Fight for Fuel Efficiency Standards

Source of graph: "US Last among Major Countries in
Car Fuel Economy Standards"

From the Union of Concerned Scientists:

In response to high gas prices, the Bush administration and its allies are calling for new oil drilling that would take decades and eventually save only pennies-per-gallon.

Meanwhile, Bush’s Department of Transportation is undermining historic new fuel economy standards. They unrealistically assume gas will cost around $2.50 through 2020 and that hybrid vehicles won’t even exist until 2014. Because the agency balances the cost of new fuel economy technology against the gas savings the new technology provides, these outrageous assumptions are being used by the administration to reduce the automakers’ requirement to bring more fuel-efficient options to consumers.

According to the administration’s own analysis, if they simply used a more realistic gas price, the standards would save consumers enough fuel to equal about a dollar per gallon discount at the pump. This would dwarf the minuscule price drop from oil produced through new drilling without the environmental consequences of feeding our addiction to oil.

Click here, and the Union of Concerned Scientists will guide you to effective action.