http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14739/story.htm Planet Ark : UPDATE - GM holds rallies to protest fuel standard proposal
USA: February 27, 2002 PONTIAC - General Motors Corp. and union workers held rallies at plants in three Midwestern states Monday warning that the U.S. automotive industry would lose more than 100,000 jobs if the Senate passed a proposal to raise fuel economy standards. The rallies are the latest effort by the world's largest automaker to counter a proposal by Democratic Senators Ernest Hollings and John Kerry to raise the average fuel economy of new cars and trucks to 35 miles (56 km) per gallon by 2013. The current Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, first enacted by Congress in the mid-1970s when gas prices soared during the oil embargo, require passenger cars to average 27.5 mpg. Sport utility vehicles, minivans, pickup trucks and other vehicles in the "light truck" category need only get 20.7 mpg. "The increase would cut more than 100,000 jobs in the U.S. automotive sector," Guy Briggs, GM's general manager of vehicle manufacturing, told one of the rallies at GM's assembly plant in Pontiac, Michigan, which makes the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra full-size pickup trucks. "It's a domino effect with devastating consequences," he told hundreds of workers. Briggs said GM favored customer incentives on more fuel-efficient vehicles, such as tax credits for hybrid gasoline-electric vehicles, as an alternative to stricter CAFE standards. Michigan Democratic Sen. Carl Levin said at the event that he hoped to propose legislation including tax credits and government purchases of more fuel-efficient vehicles. Other meetings were to be held at GM plants in Toledo, Ohio, and Janesville, Wisconsin, this week. The Senate is expected to resume debate this week over raising fuel economy standards. Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrsyler AG's Chrysler group have also hosted rallies at some of their U.S. plants this month. Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona has offered his own plan, which would give automakers three more years to reach a slightly higher U.S. fleet average of 36 mpg. When the CAFE regulations were adopted in the 1970s, trucks were used primarily for commercial purposes. But sales of gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles for passenger use have soared over the past 30 years, causing environmentalists to demand that the CAFE standards be raised. Richard Shoemaker, a vice president of the United Auto Workers, said the union supports CAFE. But the higher standards supported by some senators would unfairly force GM to raise average fuel economy of its new cars and trucks by 30 to 40 percent, while Honda would have to increase by only 15 percent. Because American manufacturers' vehicle sales are tilted more toward trucks, they would have to make a greater effort to meet the higher standards than Japanese makers, who predominantly sell a greater share of cars. Levin and GM officials said that CAFE unfairly discriminates against U.S. automakers. American-made pickup trucks and SUVs are just as fuel-efficient as those from Japan, he said. But higher CAFE standards would force Americans to buy Japanese-made trucks, because Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. Ltd. can offset the lower fuel efficiency of trucks with their strong sales of more fuel-efficient cars. "The proposal before the Senate will do little or nothing for the environment, but will do a hell of a lot to end American jobs," Levin said. "We're pushing people into foreign-made vehicles even though they're not more fuel-efficient." Briggs and Shoemaker said they were encouraging automotive workers across the country to write letters or telephone their representatives in opposition to the stricter CAFE standards. Story by Michael Ellis REUTERS NEWS SERVICE ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Stock for $4. No Minimums. FREE Money 2002. http://us.click.yahoo.com/BgmYkB/VovDAA/ySSFAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Please do NOT send "unsubscribe" messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
