From Interfaith Power and Light (http://interfaithpowerandlight.org):
Six years ago, Ford Motor Company was part of a landmark agreement with the EPA, the state of California, and other major automakers to significantly improve fuel efficiency standards and build cleaner cars. Ford’s CEO even stood on stage with President Obama when he announced the new Clean Car Standards.
These standards – nearly doubling average fuel economy of vehicles, with a goal of 54.5 mpg by 2025 – are the most significant policy the U.S. has to cut carbon pollution.
But now, Ford has changed their tune and claims they need greater “flexibility” in meeting the standards. And the EPA has followed suit with a proposal to weaken the standards. That’s why IPL is partnering with the United Methodist Women and The United Church of Christ to tell Ford: stop trying to undermine the Clean Car Standards you promised to support, and build the clean cars consumers want and our climate demands.
Even as they attempt to undermine our country’s most significant policy to cut pollution and protect our climate, Ford Motor Company Chairman Bill Ford claims he is an environmentalist, and that environmental leadership “will not be a passing fad at Ford.” That’s why we are writing to Bill Ford and CEO Jim Hacket to ask them to stop fighting the Clean Cars Standards and uphold their promises. Add your name today at https://www.interfaithpowerandlight.org/stop-ford-motor-companys-efforts-to-weaken-our-countrys-environmental-protections/.
Ford’s reversal is clearly not based on any real technical or financial challenge in building the cleaner cars they promised. Ford has received billions in loans from U.S. taxpayers to engineer the advanced vehicles of tomorrow. And recent government and industry reviews have shown that automakers can comply with the standards.
It is unconscionable for the company to renege on their commitment to cleaner cars now. Tell Ford: instead of lobbying against environmental policies, get back to engineering, designing and marketing the clean cars we need.
The Clean Car Standards are more important now than ever. The transportation sector is the largest source of climate pollution in our country. Emissions from cars and trucks create smog and unhealthy air quality.
The impacts of climate change and vehicle pollution disproportionately affect low-income communities, people of color, the elderly, and children. The Clean Car Standards, if not weakened or blocked, will save thousands of lives every year and improve our air.
As people of faith, we are called to care for “the least of these.” It is our moral obligation to oppose policies that endanger health and lives of the most vulnerable among us. On behalf of the 24 million Americans, including six million children, who suffer from asthma, we must demand that the Clean Car Standards be implemented without delay.
Help protect the Clean Car Standards, our climate and clean up the air for everyone. Sign the letter to Bill Ford and the Ford Motor Company today.
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