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Enterprise Rent-A-Car
April 23, 2007
The Honorable Richard E. NealChairman
Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures
Committee on Ways and Means
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Chairman Neal and Ranking
Member English:
Enterprise Rent-A-Car
Company (“Enterprise”) respectfully tenders this letter in response to the
Subcommittee’s request for submissions in connection with its April 24, 2007 hearing on proposals for federal tax incentives for alternative energy
sources. Enterprise appreciates the opportunity to communicate its views to
the Subcommittee.
Enterprise is a
family-owned company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, that is celebrating
its 50th Anniversary in 2007. Enterprise is the largest car rental company in North America with almost 7,000 airport and local rental offices, 65,000 employees, and
approximately 900,000 vehicles in its rental and leasing fleet.
For its 50th
Anniversary, Enterprise recognized the opportunity to celebrate the company’s
first 50 years by making meaningful and significant commitments for the next 50
years. To that end, Enterprise has:
- Partnered with the National
Arbor Day Foundation and the U.S. Forest Service to underwrite the
planting of 50 million trees – 1 million trees a year for each of the next
50 years in national forests throughout the United States, as well as in Canada and Europe.
- Donated $25 million to a
leading plant science center to start the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Institute
for Renewable Fuels, which is tasked with finding new ways to create fuel
from renewable and reliable plant sources.
Enterprise will continue its efforts to decrease the impact of the company’s operations on
the environment in the future. The company’s approach is built on a commitment
to ensure the sustainability of Enterprise’s business, as well as the
sustainability of the world Enterprise shares. For example:
- 47% of the company’s worldwide
rental fleet averages 28 mpg or better….and 28% averages 32 mpg or better.
- 33% of Enterprise’s U.S. fleet qualify for the Environmental Protection Agency’s “SmartWay Seal.”
- Enterprise’s fleet is populated
with a significant number of alternative fuel vehicles – from 38,000
FlexFuel vehicles to 3,000 gasoline/electric hybrid vehicles – making it the
largest fleet of alternative fuel vehicles among the country’s car rental
companies.
- Enterprise manages, in major
metropolitan areas, vanpool businesses that provide more than 1,700 vans
that transport over 16,000 urban commuters each day.
Enterprise does not
have a set of concrete policy recommendations to make to the House Ways and Means Committee or to Congress with respect to proposals on tax incentives for
alternative energy sources. However, Enterprise believes that it is the role
of the federal government to incentivize the economic behavior it seeks to
encourage – such as more widespread use of biofuels such as E85 and biodiesel,
increased consumer demand for flexible fuel vehicles, and the expansion of the
infrastructure for providing these biofuels to consumers. As a nationwide
company that has already made both the financial and operational commitment to
biofuels, Enterprise is prepared to provide whatever information may be of
interest to the Committee as it considers its federal policy options in the
alternative fuel area.
Please do not
hesitate to contact me if there are questions about Enterprise’s comprehensive
environmental platform or the public policy steps that Congress can take to
encourage Enterprise and other companies to expand their commitment to
alternative energy sources, particularly biofuels.
Sincerely
yours,
Gregory
M. Scott
Partner
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