Link Detroit bailout to fuel efficiency, groups tell Congress

By Lisa Mascaro

Friday, Nov. 14, 2008 | 3:09 p.m.

WASHINGTON — A coalition of energy and environmental groups is insisting that any taxpayer aid for the U.S. automakers comes with green strings attached to make vehicles more energy efficient.

In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other congressional leaders, the groups urged lawmakers Friday to link the proposed $25 billion bailout for Detroit that Congress may consider next week to pledges from the car companies to produce more fuel-efficient vehicles.

“The aid package should be tied to commitments to improve the greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy of manufacturer’s fleets,” said the letter signed by representatives from the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy and others.

The groups argue that the automakers cannot compete “in a future of insecure, volatile oil markets and intensifying global warming if they make cars only marginally better than they are building today.”

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has argued that Washington should not bailout Detroit without requiring the industry to innovate.

“I would add other conditions: Any car company that gets taxpayer money must demonstrate a plan for transforming every vehicle in its fleet to a hybrid-electric engine with flex-fuel capability, so its entire fleet can also run on next generation cellulosic ethanol,” Friedman wrote this week.

The groups aim for Detroit to produce cars that improve fuel efficiency by about 4 percent a year, equivalent to California’s greenhouse gas emission standards and on par with goals set by President-elect Barack Obama during his campaign.