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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.
Ever wonder why automakers are in trouble and the cost of a vehicle is so high, well this is it. We have figures for how much health care is in every car, how about some that show the cost of all these regulations in every car. As far as gas mileage goes, thank these same environazis. They want tighter and tighter emission standards which decrease mileage and add complexity to the vehicle. The problem with the nazis is they are totally unflexable and feel that giving any ground at all is a defeat. Relaxing the emission standards could create cars with far superior gas mileage that would actually pollute less because they use less gas. In fact, emission standards are just a means by which the wackos will rid the planet of all cars. With ever tighter emission and mileage standards and wacky mandates for fuels that may never be viable, cars will be so expensive that only the rich can afford one. After killing the auto industry, the wackies will then seek to scrap all the used cars because they will be "a danger to the planet".
Oddman,
You and your dinosaur fuel loving ways are over. The majority of American citizens are interested in alternative, nonpolluting, MADE IN AMERICA fuel and transportation technology. We can and will do it.
We just proved this by by electing Obama.
Why do you love Saudi Arabia so much that you want to keep buying oil from them?
Are you a Saudi?
What is your real motivation?
"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."
Hmm, well the cost of these "green" vehicles is out of reach for a lot of individuals. Green and affordability do not go hand in hand.
YESS!!, annienonymouse! I'm going to keep driving my '92 and '94 Nissans because: 1) I can't afford two new $40,000+ hybrids, and 2) How is this cost effective for the average family in a wildly fluctuating commodity like gasoline?
The Big Three have crafted their own tar pit which they have been known to do in regular cycles since the auto was invented.
More important than saving the Big Three is saving our state governments - all of which are in deep trouble. This concept has yet to be recognized by any of our useless Congresscritters.
When the auto industries can proove that all the labor that is put into the manufacturing of all U.S. autos is done by U.S. citizens, I'd think about a bailout. Fool me once...
More brainwashed comments from typical Americans who think they know best about the environment.
You have never bother to think or discuss the environment, an anyone that does, you of course call him a nazi. This is absolutely despicable.
As a nation, you have highest figure of CO2 emissions per capita of the industrialized nations, and when some people try to do something about changing the way of life for most Americans, you just cant take it, and resort to slander.
As the USA did not ratify the Kyoto treaty, the new President WILL ratify any new treaty that come before the worlds leaders in Copenhagen next year.
As the USA have been very lax during the past 15 yrs, you sure have a long way to go to catch up, and that will take some extraordinary efforts on behalf of the American public, and will make this present economic crisis seem like nothing at all.
I think the 'big three' automakers deserve nothing short of tough love. No more bailouts.