You Say You Want A (Receipt) Revolution
July 6th, 2007 by Eric
Two weeks ago, we asked you to sign the petition by the Union of Concerned Scientists asking Congress to raise the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. It worked in the Senate, who passed an energy bill last week that, among other things, raised the average fuel efficiency of cars and SUVs from 27mpg to 35mpg by the year 2020.
Congresswoman, Diane Feinstein has put the effects of the bill in terms we can understand. With the new guidelines, our nation would:
- Save between 2.0 and 2.5 million barrels of oil per day, nearly the amount of oil imported today from the Persian Gulf.
- Achieve up to 18 percent reduction of carbon dioxide emissions from anticipated levels, or the equivalent of taking 60 million cars off the road in one year.
- Save consumers $79-98 billion at the pump, based on a $3.00 gas price.
The bill now goes to the House, the less deliberative body, whose members have closer ties to those in their community, given that they represent fewer people. In that light, the Union of Concerned Scientists have come up with something a little different for sharing your concerns with your representative. They have started a campaign asking you and I to send our gas receipts to our representatives.
This is a brilliant way to make your concern known to your most personal of elected federal officials. It gives them a sense of reality; it says, “This is what I have to pay to fill my tank. This is how I spend my hard-earned dough. I want that tank to go further.” You can get more information on the program, including your representative’s information and short messages too send in along with your receipts by clicking this sentence.
I am not encouraging people to wait for the government to fix this problem, however. The next time you are in the market for a vehicle, check out the list of most fuel-efficient cars on the market and start paying a little more attention to the mileage on the window. In the meantime, here is a handy list of ways to reduce the gas mileage on the vehicle that is sitting in your driveway right now. Let’s start doing them today. Do them for the environment, national security, and for your own pocketbook.
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