Good news on energy

12/24/2007

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Before we head out for the holidays, we wanted to give you some good news—an energy bill victory that you helped make happen!

This week, Congress passed, and President Bush signed, the first increase in auto fuel efficiency in over 20 years.1

New cars and trucks will have to average 35 miles a gallon—a 40% improvement over current standards.

The bill also contains a groundbreaking green jobs package and improved efficiency standards for appliances and buildings.

The big automakers and coal companies lobbied hard against the bill, and President Bush threatened to veto. But MoveOn members—perhaps including you—joined with our allies in the environmental movement to keep the pressure on all year. Finally, this week, the President bowed to that pressure and signed the bill into law.

Thank you for your work on this important issue. Together we delivered hundreds of thousands of petition signatures, made tens of thousands of phone calls to Congress, held lots of local events, and made this an issue that Congress and the President couldn't ignore.

It's important to note, though, that we still have a long way to go. Speaker Nancy Pelosi stood up for clean energy in the House, delivering a progressive bill with new tax incentives for solar energy and requirements to generate 15% of electric power from renewable sources. The House bill would have paid for our clean energy future by taking away billions of dollars in unnecessary tax breaks from oil and gas companies that are making record profits.

But the Senate couldn't pass these provisions—one single Republican vote blocked the way.2

And so they didn't make it into the bill that the President signed into law.

This victory is an important first step in the fight to stop the catastrophic effects of the climate crisis and put us on the path to a clean energy future. But we have a long way to go together, and the year ahead will be a crucial one.

Thanks for all you do, and happy New Year!

–Noah, Ilyse, Matt, Carrie, and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
Friday, December 21st, 2007

Sources:
1. "Bush signs bill to boost vehicle fuel efficiency," Reuters , December 19, 2007
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3304&id=11844-8299453-mwEbyR&t=1

2. "Senate Republicans Block Energy Bill," Washington Post, December 13, 2007
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3294&id=11844-8299453-mwEbyR&t=2