Thank you for your interest in this campaign. We have won! All the letters sent to Congress led to an energy bill that raises fuel economy without cost-benefit loopholes!
The Bush administration now has to go back to the drawing board and produce meaningful fuel economy standards.
We plan on hitting the ground running in 2008 to make sure the Bush administration doesn't ruin everything. To do that, we need your support. Please consider a gift to Public Citizen.
Give Us the Benefits of Fuel Economy
Not the Cost-Benefit "Bean-Counting" Sneak Attack in the Energy Bill
This fall Congress has a lot of work to do. When it comes to fuel economy, we have to make sure that they actually work to protect the public.
The Senate has been patting itself on the back for passing an energy bill (H.R. 6) that, it says, would increase fuel economy standards for the combined car and truck fleets to 35 mpg. But that so-called increase comes with a gigantic loop hole -- the administration will be able to go below 35 mpg if it justifies a lower standard using cost-benefit analysis.
Cost-benefit analysis has been used and abused for decades to weaken standards for consumers, public health and the environment. We need to get rid of this biased, rigged distortion of public policy... not add it into a law that doesn't even mention it! Allowing the Bush administration to set fuel economy standards based on cost-benefit analysis is a giant step backward.
The Senate bill would also end fuel economy as we know it, replacing the current corporate average approach with a complex sliding scale that rewards gas guzzlers with lower fuel economy standards. In fact, this whole scheme was cooked up in back-room meetings led by high-level White House officials -- and the staff of none other than Vice President Dick Cheney.
Tell Congress that public policy should be based on public need ... not biased bean-counting and that you won't stand for cost-benefit sneak attacks to undermine fuel economy!
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