Operation Free’s very own Alex Cornell Du Houx has a new article on Huffington Post outlining the ways in which reducing our dependence on foreign oil makes America safer. Alex bridges the gap between between the recent EPA hearings in Detroit and his own service in Iraq to make a compelling case for strong national security policies through energy independence.

EPA Detroit Hearing: Less Oil Means a More Secure America
Posted: 1/18/12 01:35 PM ET

The EPA held hearings on clean car standards yesterday and I had the opportunity to testify in support of the new standards that will help move us off our dependence on oil.

When I served in Iraq in and around Fallujah, I came across a line of cars, trucks, and tractors that stretched as far as I could see. We decided to investigate and finally reached the end of the line to find they had been waiting all day in 100-degree heat for gas and diesel. It struck me how dependent this nation was on a single source of energy and how crippled it made them. They were so desperate for this single source of energy that when the curfew set in they essentially rioted against us. It also made me pause and think about how the United States was dependent on this single source of energy as well, and how we are essentially forced to line up to countries like Iran and Venezuela for our fuel.

This is one of the reasons I joined Operation Free, a coalition of veterans and national security organizations to ensure that we have an energy future that makes us more secure, boosts our economy, and keeps our environment healthy.

Our military leaders have taken note, and the Department of Defense, the nation’s largest energy consumer, has a goal to reduce their carbon pollution 20 percent by 2020. The Quadrennial Defense Review stated, “While climate change alone does not cause conflict, it may act as an accelerant of instability or conflict, placing a burden to respond on civilian institutions and militaries around the world.” The CIA has also opened a center on climate change.

The Army has one of the largest electric vehicle fleets in the world — 4000 vehicles in three years. The Air Force will have 50 percent of its aviation fuel from biofuel blends by 2016. The Marines are aiming for a 30 percent energy reduction by 2015. The Navy is launching the Great Green Fleet by 2016, which includes hybrid destroyers and F18s that run off of biofuels. The Navy also aims to reduce petroleum use in commercial fleet by 50 percent by 2015.

When in Iraq, I saw that our dependency on oil was a constant threat to our security and independence. Our dependence on oil makes us vulnerable to unstable and unfriendly regimes. The Department of Defense has set ambitious goals to reduce our dependence on oil and improve fuel standards because they understand the threat it poses to our nation.

This is not just a lesson for our military. Not only does cutting our dependence on oil make us more secure, it invests hard earned American money back in to our economy. Every day, we are sending a billion dollars overseas to pay for oil, money that could be staying in this country and supporting our own economy. Nearly half of the oil is used is by our cars and trucks. Increasing fuel efficiency will have a huge effect on our national expenditures on oil.

A 54.5 mile-per-gallon standard for cars and light trucks by 2025 is the single biggest step we can take right now to curb this dangerous addiction to oil. It would help my community and countless others around the country improve their economic security. It will keep America competitive with foreign auto manufacturers, many of whom are already operating under higher standards than our own. And it would strengthen our national security, making us independent and keeping billions of our dollars out of the hands of people who don’t have America’s interests in mind.

By implementing these standards, we will be taking control of our energy future and creating a more secure America.

Follow Alex Cornell du Houx on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Alex_Cornell

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alex-cornell-du-houx/epa-detroit-hearing-less-_b_1210902.html

The New York Times is reporting that the new fuel economy standards proposed by the EPA have garnered wide support. American automakers, environmentalists, lawmakers, consumer groups and regulators agree that these new regulations will create jobs, lessen pollution, save drivers money and reduce America’s dangerous addiction to foreign oil.

New Gas Economy Rules Generate Wide Support
By NICK BUNKLEY
Published: January 17, 2012

DETROIT — Writing new regulations that will require cars and trucks to have significantly higher fuel economy by 2025 prompted years of fighting among automakers, environmentalists, regulators and consumer groups.

But now that the standards have been proposed, nearly everyone involved in the process is on board with the results, as a public hearing held Tuesday in Detroit showed.

More than 90 people who spoke throughout the day asserted that the stricter fuel economy requirements would create jobs, reduce oil consumption, create cleaner air and save drivers money, all while helping automakers increase their profits.

“We’re celebrating something that has taken a long time to reach,” said Representative John D. Dingell, a Michigan Democrat who helped quash previous efforts to impose higher mileage standards. “There appears to be no significant opposition amongst responsible persons.”

The National Automobile Dealers Association, however, did speak out against the idea of setting requirements for vehicles made more than a decade from now until more is known about the strength of consumer demand for more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Don Chalmers, a Ford dealer in New Mexico and the group’s government relations chairman, said he worried that vehicles would become too expensive for some consumers to afford. “Before rushing headlong into a set of new mandates aimed at doubling today’s fleet fuel economy, we need to understand better the potential ramifications,” Mr. Chalmers said. “If our customers do not purchase these products, we all lose.”

The proposed new standards call for automakers to increase the average, unadjusted fuel-economy rating of their vehicles to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, up from about 27 miles per gallon today. Because of the way testing is done, the 2025 requirement correlates to a window-sticker rating of about 36 miles per gallon, according to the automotive information Web site Edmunds.com, or roughly what Toyota’s tiny new Scion iQ car achieves today.

Additional hearings on the standards will take place Thursday in Philadelphia and Jan. 24 in San Francisco. The Obama administration this month extended the public comment period for the proposal by two weeks, to Feb. 13, and expects to finalize the regulations this summer.

The administration says the higher standards will cause vehicle prices to increase about $2,000 but that owners will save an average of $6,600 over the life of the vehicle by using less fuel. The rules also will create 484,000 jobs and cut oil consumption in the United States by 1.5 million barrels a day by 2030, according to the Go60mpg coalition, an association of environmental advocacy groups that support the proposal.

Mr. Chalmers said the government’s analysis greatly underestimates how much the rules will cause vehicle prices to rise. He said the actual increase could be up to $5,000, causing an average buyer’s monthly payments to go up by $60 or $70 and potentially locking out shoppers who would not be able to obtain financing for the higher price, regardless of their fuel savings later on.

Some individual dealers disagreed, though, and said they welcomed the new requirements.

“Our customers strongly desire more fuel-efficient vehicles,” said Doug Fox, who has five dealerships in Ann Arbor, Mich., selling Nissan, Hyundai and other brands. “Everyone seems to win on this deal.”

Michael Robinson, vice president for sustainability and regulatory affairs at General Motors, said the company probably would submit recommendations for some technical changes and clarifications to the rules, noting that the proposal is 1,000 pages long. But G.M. is “over all, very satisfied” with the standards, he told reporters.

“We are on a good path toward meeting the early requirements that this proposal will create,” Mr. Robinson said during the hearing. “But we will need further breakthroughs in technology and good customer acceptance of the additional vehicle changes, technologies and costs that will be associated with providing the vehicles needed in future years to allow us continued success in meeting the aggressive requirements down the road.”

G.M., the Ford Motor Company, Chrysler, and other automakers agreed last summer to support the framework of the higher standards.

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a trade group, said all of its members supported the standards through 2016, when they would be required to achieve 36 miles per gallon. The German carmakers Volkswagen and Daimler have not endorsed the requirements past that point.

The president of the United Automobile Workers union, Bob King, said he supported increasing the fuel economy of vehicles because it would create jobs and better protect the jobs of current workers by helping the industry thrive.

“The proposed rules are sensible, achievable and needed,” Mr. King said. “They are good for the auto industry and its workers, good for the broader economy, good for the environment and good for our national security.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/business/energy-environment/new-fuel-economy-rules-win-broad-support.html?_r=2&smid=tw-nytenvironment&seid=auto

In a guest commentary in the Detroit Free Press, Mark McManus tell us how Detroit automakers have the power and technology to meet and exceed to the new 54.5 fuel economy standards.

Guest commentary: Detroit automakers have the technology, creativity for 54.5 mpg
On Tuesday, Washington will come to Detroit to talk about how many miles per gallon American drivers will soon be getting.

Officials from the National Highway Transportation Administration and the EPA will hold a hearing on a proposal — announced last year by President Obama, flanked by leaders of the major car companies in a show of support — to require a fleet average of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025.
Since that announcement, voices of doubt have grown louder, even from those who might benefit from it like the National Auto Dealers Association. Some are fearful that the new mileage goals will hurt Detroit’s signature industry. And especially in tough times like these, that’s the last thing anybody wants.

But as I will testify at Tuesday’s hearing, the truth is that higher fuel economy standards will boost the bottom line for American automakers. In fact, I believe the Detroit Three need exactly this sort of ambitious but doable national mileage goal to help keep them from repeating mistakes that have proved so costly in the past.

Research shows that when automakers boost fuel efficiency, their profits actually rise. They sell more cars and trucks. And they create more jobs across the board — from manufacturing and marketing, to developing new and cleaner technologies that make their vehicles more competitive on the world stage. Add it all up, and economic models predict that the 54.5-mpg mileage standard now being considered would boost auto industry profits by billions of dollars per year.

On the other hand, we in Michigan know only too well what can happen when automakers ignore driver demand for more fuel-efficient cars. A few years back, Detroit stayed focused on SUVs and gas-guzzlers even as oil prices rose. By 2009, two of the Detroit three had declared bankruptcy. Government bailouts cost taxpayers billions. Here in Michigan, our friends, families and our neighbors lost their livelihoods. From 2000-2010, we were the only state in the country to lose population.

Now gasoline prices are rising again. In 2011, the price of gasoline (all grades and formulations) averaged $3.58 per gallon, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That is 74 cents per gallon higher than in 2010, and 28 cents per gallon higher than in the crisis year of 2008.

Against this backdrop, vehicle manufacturers are deciding on the mix of vehicles they will be offering for sale; some highly fuel-efficient, some very inefficient. A strong national mileage standard will help ensure vehicle manufacturers make better choices this time around, while giving American drivers what they want: cars, SUVs and light trucks that go farther on a gallon of gasoline.
Consumers have confirmed their preference for more efficient vehicles in poll after poll. A recent Opinion Research poll commissioned by the Consumer Federation of America shows that 75% of Americans believe it is important to increase fuel-economy standards. And in a recent Mellman Group poll of likely voters here in Michigan, 76 percent said a national 60-mpg standard would encourage American carmakers to innovate, boosting sales and protecting US jobs.

Sixty miles per gallon is not on the table, but 54.5 mpg by 2025 is. Michigan’s automakers can do it. They have the technology and the creativity. They can give American drivers what they want. Along the way, they can make more money, sell more cars, and rebuild one of America’s great industries.
Economist Walter McManus is research professor of decision and information sciences at Oakland University. He is the former director of automotive analysis at the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute, and spent nine years working in the automotive industry, focusing on forecasting, marketing analysis and new product development.

Read more: http://www.freep.com/comments/article/20120116/OPINION05/120116049/Guest-commentary-Detroit-automakers-have-the-technology-creativity-for-54-5-mpg

Operation Free
Secure America with Clean Energy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 16, 2011

CONTACT
Benjamin Lowe, (202) 656-9723,
ben@trumanproject.org

Vets Group: Strong Car Mileage Rules Make U.S. Safer

Washington, DC – In response to today’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking from the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration to strengthen fuel economy standards to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, Operation Free spokesperson Benjamin Lowe released the following statement:

“The new fuel efficiency and emissions standards announced today are a critical win for America’s security and prosperity.

“The US spend nearly a billion dollars a day importing oil. Our dangerous dependence on oil forces us to cut deals with countries that don’t share our values or have our best interests in mind. Our oil use weakens our international leverage, entangles America with hostile regimes, and, by indirectly funding our enemies, puts our troops at risk.

“Most of the oil we use goes toward providing gas for our cars and trucks. The more efficient our vehicles are, the less dependent on oil we’ll be, and the more money stays in our economy. A fuel economy standard of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025 is a big step toward reducing our dependence on oil from unfriendly nations, and insulating the American economy from the volatile swings of the oil market.”

Operation Free is an advocacy campaign of the Truman National Security Project. Learn more at www.OperationFree.net.

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Today Operation Free shows that the 54.5 mile per gallon target will keep trillions of dollars in the economy and out of the hands of America’s enemies in this full page ad in The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Operation Free also sent an educational mailer on the connection between the 54.5 mpg standard and our national security to over 10,000 households in the San Diego area.

To learn more about the importance of the 54.5 standard view our clean cars page at www.operationfree.net/cleancars

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