Last week, the price of a barrel of oil reached historic levels -- $80 a barrel – as concerns about Hurricane Humberto’s impact on America’s refining capacity hit Wall Street.
The ever increasing price of oil illustrates how vulnerable we are as a nation to the ebbs and flows of the oil market. And it makes it even more evident that we need to do whatever we can to end America’s addiction to oil.
A simple and obvious way for America to use less oil is to make cars go farther on a gallon of gasoline. By increasing federal fuel economy standards to a 35 mpg standard by 2020, we can save 1.6 million barrels of oil a DAY – roughly the equivalent amount of oil that we import from Saudi Arabia every day. Seems like a no-brainer, right? We have the technology - all we need to do is implement it. Having cars go farther on a gallon of gasoline is good for consumers, good for our national security, and good for the environment.
As I type this, Congress is working on an energy bill that could significantly increase fuel economy standards for the first time in 30 years. However, it might surprise you to learn that Toyota – the company that brought hybrids into the mainstream and markets itself as a ‘green’ automaker – is actively lobbying AGAINST increased fuel economy standards.
Toyota is a member of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the auto-industry funded lobbyist organization that lobbies against increasing fuel economy standards. The AAM thinks that a 35mpg standard is ‘unattainable.’
It’s time to send a message to Toyota. It’s time to tell them that if they want to be known as the industry leader on fuel economy, they must start acting like it.
Click here to demand that Toyota move forward on fuel economy and start supporting a 35 mpg standard.