FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 13 March 2007
Contact: Josh Dorner, 202.675.2384

          Bipartisan Group in House Pushes Forward on Fuel Economy
      Sierra Club Supports Common Sense Approach of Markey-Platts Bill

Today Reps. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Todd Platts (R-PA), along with a
bipartisan group of 21 Democratic and 19 Republican original cosponsors,
will introduce legislation to significantly increase the Corporate Average
Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for cars and light trucks.

    Statement of Dan Becker, Director, Sierra Club Global Warming Program

"The Sierra Club applauds Reps. Markey and Platts for moving forward with a
bill that will make our environment, economy, and the nation as a whole
safer and more secure.  Making our cars and light trucks go farther on a
gallon of gas is the single biggest step we can take toward saving American
families money at the pump, ending our dangerous addiction to oil, and
curbing global warming.

"In January the President proposed increasing CAFE standards at a rate of
4% per year.  The Markey-Platts bill does just that.  The common sense
approach of ambitious but achievable goals set out in the bill enjoys
strong bipartisan support--including five original cosponsors who voted
against increasing CAFE standards when the House last took up the matter in
2005.  With even noted environmental critic Sen. Ted Stevens introducing
his own 40 miles per gallon bill for cars in the Senate, it is clear that
the time has come for Congress to raise fuel economy standards for the
first time since it originally set them in 1975.

"This bill will not only save consumers money and help us fight global
warming, but it will also help us break our addiction to oil.  Within 15
years, this bill will save us as much oil as we now import from the Persian
Gulf.  Making cars go further on each gallon of gas is like drilling for
oil under Detroit instead of our sensitive coasts and lands. Raising fuel
economy standards is the cleanest, cheapest, and safest way for America to
reduce its dependence on oil.

"It is time for automakers to get off their tailpipe and get into gear to
do their fair share to curb global warming and our oil addiction.  They
need to take the technology gathering dust on Detroit’s shelves and put it
to work to help America tackle some of its most urgent problems.  Requiring
the American auto industry to make more fuel-efficient vehicles is auto
mechanics, not rocket science. It will force them to compete with foreign
automakers like Honda and Toyota who have used hybrids and other efficient
vehicles to remake their brands and cruise to record profits while the Big
Three teeter on the brink of insolvency."

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