Slater: Fuel economy key

By Pamela Glason Thornton
Staff Writer
Columbus Post

Is your vehicle’s gas mileage an issue? The ways used to get around often make fuel economy an issue for city dwellers, their families and for businesses in surrounding areas.
Rodney Slater, Driving America’s Future Chairman, feels strongly about the benefits of reducing the consumption of gasoline by vehicles.
Slater hosted a press conference at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus on August 30 to stress how the issue of fuel economy affects members of the population. He conducted an interview with the Columbus Post following the August 30 press conference.
H.R. 2927, introduced by Rep. Baron Hill (D-Ind.) and Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) addresses increased fuel efficiency and alternative fuel research, targets a standard of 32-35 mpg fuel efficiency by 2022 and supports research for alternative fuel technologies.
A major segment of the resolution, Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) standards are established as fuel economy minimums that must be met by automakers. Proposed legislation has mile-per-gallon minimums and the changes are bound to affect the auto industry.
“ House Resolution 2927 implements a realistic increase in CAFÉ standards so that we decrease America’s dependence on foreign oil,” said Ohio Senate Democratic Leader Teresa Fedor. A resolution filed by Sen. Fedor (D-Toledo) urges the adoption of H.R. 2927, designated as the Hill-Terry Resolution.
H.R. 6 and H.R. 1506 are additional legislative items that address fuel economy. H.R. 2927 includes consideration of the environment and green initiatives.
“ When the House of Representatives acts on energy legislation in coming weeks, members will have a clear choice between the Senate’s overly aggressive fuel economy legislation which will cripple the auto industry that serves as a job creating engine or a more reasonable approach. The bipartisan bill introduced by Representatives Baron Hill and Lee Terry is a common sense solution based on aggressive, yet achievable CAFE increases partnered with alternative energy development that has nearly 100 co-sponsors,” stated Slater in a July statement.
“ With this issue, you’ve got the domestic automakers and the foreign automakers on the same side as supporters of the bill,” added Slater. Over the years, foreign automakers have captured an increasing share of U.S. car sales by emphasizing fuel efficiency and are investigating fuel advancements as ways to impact the market even further.
Automobile manufacturer Honda of America Manufacturing, Inc., headquartered in Marysville, Ohio, is directly impacted and concerned about fuel economy and regularly invests in fuel research.
“ The entire issue is about community. Foreign and domestic automakers represent communities that are thriving because of hard-working individuals who are employed at factory, farm and industrial jobs,” said Slater who cited being made aware of and connected to the industrial revolution era as a young male who witnessed cross-country transportation and its expansion.
“ (Today,) we must use energy more efficiently with an acute regard for the economics of the automobile industry,” said Sen. Fedor. Increasing standards too high within the auto industry may affect jobs and bring economic harm to the industry.
“ H.R. 2927 responsibly addresses the issue, supporting increased standards while recognizing more strict standards may impose economic harm to the automobile industry. This resolution has received bipartisan support in Congress, garnering 101 Republican co-sponsors and 61 Democratic co-sponsors,” said Fedor.
Nationwide, individual states and a variety of consumer-oriented organizations have responded favorably to the resolution.
At its annual meeting in New Orleans in July, The National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) issued the CAFÉ Standards Proposed Legislation Resolution.
“ The NBCC is concerned that the current legislation, H.R. 6 and H.R. 1506, are too extreme and place an uneven amount of burden on the American auto industry including dealers, suppliers and many other businesses and if adopted, could have an enormously adverse impact on small businesses, and in particular, Black-owned businesses represented by the NBCC that are engaged in a broad cross section of economic activity in the manufacturing industrial and service sectors of the economy,” stated National Black Chamber of Commerce President Harry Alford.
Cognizant that the impacts of fuel usage go beyond the highway, Slater acknowledged that vehicles are sources of carbon dioxide emissions – black smoke – but they serve as businesses’ links and industries’ connections to prosperity. “Trucks are warehouses on wheels. They are transporting merchandise,” said Slater. “Just as (the auto) industry helped to create the middle class in the past, it can do the same thing today. I have observed it. The real question is whether this is an industry of the past or the future. If it is an industry of the future, I think government has to make policy changes that enhance rather than limit its opportunity and that means balancing competing interests – domestic and foreign automakers as well as consumers,” emphasized Slater.
Currently a partner with Patton Boggs, LLP in Washington, D.C., Slater served as Secretary of Transportation under President Bill Clinton and was formerly Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration.
A son of the South and an Arkansas native, Slater recognizes value in keeping the environment at the forefront of infrastructure development.
“ Nationwide, we are just now starting to talk about the significance of green-collar jobs. It could be loosely defined to mean any job that is sensitive to the environment – a farmer who is raising corn to be used for ethanol, an architect or an engineer who is putting up a building with certain materials and standards complying with set requirements, that is a green-collar effort,” said Slater.
Many jobs that are indirectly affected because of fuel economy and transportation fall into the category of green-collar jobs. “Some of the most innovative transportation projects are being brought online today. Trails and more open green spaces were implemented during my tenure as Federal Highway Administrator,” said Slater.
The Four Corners Project in Columbus’ Linden Area, which was designed to include a neighborhood policing station, metropolitan housing headquarters, transit center and office building on the four directional corners, is the result of the national program. “The Four Corners was one of our signature Transportation Enhancement Programs,” recalled Slater who was Sectetary of Transportation at the time of the Four Corners’ groundbreaking.
The CAFÉ standards’ legislation will be up for consideration by the U.S. Congress in late September when Congress returns from a four-week summer vacation.

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