Markey Urges Obama Admin. to Strengthen Markey-authored Fuel Economy Standards
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Select Committee, 202-225-4081
Markey Urges Obama Admin. to Strengthen Markey-authored Fuel Economy Standards
Gas Price Scenarios, Technology Assumptions Can Have Huge Effects on Law, Says Chairman
WASHINGTON (January 26, 2009) – Following the announcement today that the Obama administration would reconsider how to implement the fuel economy standards he authored, Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming and of the House Energy and Environment Subcommittee, sent a letter to the new Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood with vital information on how to effectively implement the fuel economy law.
Chairman Markey’s letter to Secretary LaHood can be found here: http://globalwarming.house.gov/mediacenter/letters?id=0030#main_content
“I am thrilled that after eight years of fighting the Bush administration to pass my fuel economy law, the Obama administration is acting within eight days to make sure it is implemented correctly,” said Chairman Markey. “By using better science, and having faith in the automotive industry’s capacity to innovate, America can make great strides towards ending our dependence on foreign oil and revitalizing our auto industry.”
The letter outlines three major items to which Secretary LaHood and the Obama administration should pay close attention:
--Gas price scenarios: instead of using the lower future gas price scenarios to analyze the costs and benefits of fuel-saving technology, as the Bush administration had done, Secretary LaHood should use more realistic scenarios. Chairman Markey, former-Rep. and now President Obama’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel sent a letter to then-President Bush last year suggesting this course of action.
The letter on gas price scenarios from Chairman Ed Markey and Rahm Emanuel, among others, can be found here: http://globalwarming.house.gov/mediacenter/letters?id=0023#main_content
--Technology assumptions: The Bush Administration yielded to auto industry requests to dramatically revise downwards the benefits fuel-saving technologies would yield, and slow down the rates at which they should be incorporated into the automotive fleet. The Obama administration should not make the same mistake, or have the same lack of faith in the automotive industry to adapt.
--Eradicate language stopping global warming regulation: Previous versions of the fuel economy rules promulgated by the Bush administration contained language that is in direct conflict with the California clean car law, which President Obama said today he will reconsider allowing to go forward. Future fuel economy regulations should eliminate this language, especially following today’s announcement.
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