Posted by Brad Johnson on 22/10/2007 at 06:12PM
From CQ:
After negotiations with key Republicans, Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid said Friday he was prepared to seek a conference with the House
on energy policy legislation.
“The Speaker wants to go to conference. I want to go to conference,”
Reid, D-Nev., said on the floor Friday. “We know we can’t do a bill
unless we include the Republicans in it.”
The unanimous consent to move to conference was blocked on a procedural
basis by John Cornyn, R-Texas, Friday afternoon because many senators
were traveling, but no objections were expected this week.
That said, the battle over CAFE standards
remains strong, with the auto industry lobbying hard for the weaker
Hill-Terry
language
(HR 2927). Last week GM Chairman and CEO Rick
Wagoner met with Al Hubbard, director of the National Economic Council,
Nicole Nason, the administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration, and EPA officials, and Ford
CEO Alan Mulally is expected in DC this week.
Meanwhile, the natural gas industry is calling for expanded
drilling:
The American Petroleum Institute, Independent Petroleum Association of
America, and seven other trade associations representing natural gas
producers, pipelines, and consumers jointly expressed strong concern
Oct. 19 about US House energy legislation that they believe would
reduce instead of increase domestic gas supplies. . . . The 2005
Energy Policy Act contains several provisions to encourage production
in frontier areas, including ultradeep water, ultradeep gas, and
offshore Alaska, which HR 3221 seeks to
repeal, they said.
Posted by Brad Johnson on 15/10/2007 at 02:31PM
From CQ
Greensheets
and Detroit
News
reports on movement on the inter-chamber energy bill negotiating
process:
- The controversial standard legislation – fuel economy (CAFE) and
renewable fuels (RFS) from the Senate
bill
(HR 6), and renewable energy (RPS) from the House
bill
(HR 3221) – “will be worked out behind closed doors between House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid”, with
staff-level discussions this week
- Opponents of the CAFE legislation in the
Senate
bill
continue a last-ditch effort to advocate Hill-Terry (HR 2927) and get
Senators to switch their votes. The coalition, led by Energy and
Commerce chair John Dingell, includes:
- Dingell’s staff is meeting with the leadership staff for the
closed-door negotiations, but he is leaving the door open to blocking
the energy bill: “I’m not foreclosing any option. I don’t make the
jungle. I just live there.” He also said that trying to get a bill
completed before the scheduled October 26 recess “is to invite a
disaster.”
Posted by Brad Johnson on 04/10/2007 at 03:59PM
Toyota is now
responding
to NRDC’s
challenge
to drop its opposition to the Markey-Platts
CAFE standard increase (since echoed by
UCS and Ed Markey, and written up by Tom
Friedman):
There are various bills before Congress that would mandate a new
target of 35 mpg by 2020 and require both cars and trucks to meet that
standard. Our engineers tell us the requirements specified by these
proposed measures are beyond what is possible. Toyota spends $23
million every day on research and development but, at this point, the
technology to meet such stringent standards by 2020 does not exist.
Toyota has long supported an increase in the Corporate Average Fuel
Economy (CAFE) standards. Moreover, Toyota has always exceeded federal
fuel economy requirements. We are continuously striving to improve our
fuel economy, regardless of federal mandates.
Toyota currently supports a proposal known as the Hill-Terry bill,
HR 2927, that would set a new standard of up
to 35 mpg by 2022 (up to a 40% increase) and maintain separate
categories for cars and light trucks. Although this won’t be easy, we
believe it is achievable.
House Energy Independence and Global Warming Committee chairman Ed
Markey
responds:
“Apparently the only thing that separates Toyota from the ‘impossible
dream’ of 35 miles per gallon here in the U.S., is a flight across the
Pacific Ocean,” as Toyota meets Japan’s (and Europe’s) fuel efficiency
standards of greater than 40 MPG, according to
the International Council on Clean
Transportation.
Posted by Brad Johnson on 03/10/2007 at 01:16PM
Forwarded to Hill Heat (as always, I’m reachable at
[email protected]):
A Message from Irv Miller
Dear Associate:
Toyota is currently the target of a
campaign
by the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) that accuses us of
opposing increases in the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE)
standards for cars and light trucks. The assertion by this group that
we are actively lobbying against increased fuel economy standards is
just flat wrong, and we want you to be aware of the company’s position
on this important issue and the facts.
FACT: Toyota has long supported an increase
in the CAFE standards. Moreover, Toyota has
always exceeded federal fuel economy requirements. We’ve never waited
for federal mandates. Under the current CAFE
standard, an automaker’s average miles per gallon for cars must exceed
27.5 and light trucks must exceed 20.7. Trucks weighing less than 8500
lbs. must average 22.5 mpg for model year 2008, 23.1 mpg in 2009 and
23.5 mpg in 2010.
FACT: There are various bills before
Congress that would mandate a new target of 35 mpg by 2020 and require
both cars and trucks to meet that standard. Our engineers tell us the
requirements specified by these proposed measures are beyond what is
possible. Toyota spends $23 million every day on R&D but, at this
point, the technology to meet such stringent standards by 2020 does
not exist.
FACT: Toyota supports a proposal known as
the Hill-Terry bill, HR 2927, that would set
a new standard of from 32 to 35 mpg by 2022 (up to a 40% increase) and
maintain separate categories for cars and light trucks. That won’t be
easy, but we believe it is achievable.
To help set the record straight, I have posted a message on this topic
on the company’s blog. To learn more, visit the blog by clicking
here—> http://blog.toyota.com/2007/09/irvs-sheet-a-ca.html
Posted by Brad Johnson on 03/10/2007 at 12:39PM
Toyota, maker of the 46 MPG
Prius*, is lobbying against the
Markey-Platts fuel-economy
bill
(HR 1506), which calls for 35 MPG by 2020, and
for the significantly more industry-friendly
Hill-Terry
(HR 2927) as part of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. (An
AAM rep has even commented on this
site).
NRDC is challenging Toyota on its
blog
and with its How Green is
Toyota? campaign, which asks
people to email the Toyota North America
president
and stop opposing Markey-Platts.
Irv Miller, Toyota North America’s VP of corporate communications,
promoted Hill-Terry on the Toyota blog in
July and fired
back at
NRDC in September.
Today, from Thomas
Friedman in
the New York Times:
Representative Edward Markey, the Massachusetts Democrat who heads the
House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, said
to me that Toyota could meet a 35 m.p.g. standard in Japan and Europe
today, “but here — even though they bombard Americans with ads about
how energy efficient Toyota is — they are fighting the 35 m.p.g.
standard for 2020.”
Mr. Markey said he has tried to persuade Toyota that “a lot of people
have bought Priuses or Camry hybrids to fight global warming and
reduce our dependence on foreign oil” and “they would be shocked to
find out” that Toyota is lobbying against the highest m.p.g. standards
for America.
Posted by Brad Johnson on 23/07/2007 at 03:31PM
With a vote on CAFE legislation in the House
expected to come next week, the Pew Campaign for Fuel
Efficiency
today released new bipartisan polling in Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky,
Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Florida and Michigan that pulled from more
than 30 congressional districts. The surveys found overwhelming voter
support for the U.S. House of Representatives to pass
CAFE legislation at least as strong as those
passed by the U.S. Senate in June. One particular district surveyed was
John Dingell’s, Michigan-15.
The polls compared the elements of the Markey-Platts bill (HR 1506) with
those of the industry-supported Hill-Terry bill (HR 2927), and found
overwhelming, across-the-board support for Markey-Platts across all
demographic groups (partisanship, income, type of car, age, etc.).
Voters just don’t buy the industry arguments against
CAFE standards, believing that cars will
continue to be safe and affordable and that the American auto industry
and auto workers will be better off as they will be forced to innovate.
As Bill McInturff, the GOP pollster said in
the
briefing,
“There’s really strong Republican support for higher standards, do it
quicker, make it binding.” Voters see this as an economic,
environmental, national security issue, and would feel better about
Congress and their own representative if strong legislation is passed.
Voters in Dingell’s
district
look like the voters elsewhere.
The pollsters deliberately avoided global warming because they see it as
a partisan issue.