It's critical that Virginians call their Senators today to express their views about two critical votes coming this week. Both are amendments to the Senate energy bill being considered. While both are being portrayed primarily as energy issues, they're also important first steps towards addressing global warming: * The Bingaman Amendment would set a 15% national renewable energy standard, meaning 15% of our nation's electricity would have to come from renewable sources like solar, wind, or biofuels. It's sponsored by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM).
* A provision to raise Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards to 35 miles per gallon by 2020. CAFE standards have not been strengthened in 17 years, and not coincidentally, U.S. fuel economy has stagnated. Cars and light trucks sold in the U.S. average 24.6 miles per gallon, well below the peak of 26.2 mpg set in 1987.
If you're a Virginia resident, please call your Senators now and urge them to support including these provisions in the Senate energy bill! Both are considered on the fence on these votes, so each call is critical.
Sen. John Warner -- (202) 224-2023
Sen. Jim Webb -- (202) 224-4024
I haven't included their emails because calling has much more of an impact than emailing. It takes more motivation and effort to pick up a phone and speak to a real person about your concerns, and your elected officials take that into consideration when giving weight to emails vs. calls. These are definitely call-worthy issues!
3 comments:
I do some work with the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and we believe that raising CAFE standards is an aggressive yet achievable step in the right direction. I'd encourage everyone to contact your respective representatives and senators and pass along your support for the Pryor-Bond-Levin-Voinovich Amendment. You can find more information at http://www.drivecongress.com.
Wow, Big Auto reads my blog! i hope my other readers would see the "Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers" as a major red flag.
Sure enough, the Pryor-Bond-Levin-Voinovich Amendment is one of the things we need Sens. Warner & Webb to oppose. It would weaken the 35 mpg standard that's currently in the Senate energy bill.
Thanks for your support for the Bingaman amendment, Miles. The vote is tomorrow and we expect it to be very close. We need 60 votes and can count a pretty sure 57 at this point.
For readers from other states: if you support this first meaningful step to fight global warming, contact your Senator's office through the U.S. Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and let him/her know you support the Bingaman Renewable Energy Standard. Or go to powerofwind.com.
Regards,
Thomas O. Gray
American Wind Energy Association
www.awea.org
risingwind.blogspot.com
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