Why
do environmentalists attack Toyota?
Thursday,
October 04, 2007
Where
would the CAFE increase argument be without the Prius?
A few weeks I made a post
about NRDC's plans to send a message to Toyota
regarding their partnership with the Big 3 against a
significant rise in CAFE. That campaign has begun.
"During the past two weeks, about 8,300 NRDC
activists sent e-mails and faxes to Toyota urging the
company to support a Senate energy bill that would set a
35-mile-per-gallon requirement by 2020," according
to the AP.
I find this campaign disappointing.
Now I don't disagree with NRDC's claims that Toyota is
acting hypocritically. I disagree with the battle.
Nonetheless, in the last 15 years Toyota has been the ONLY
automaker to decrease automobile emissions. Ultimately,
Toyota is barely trailing Honda in overall fleet fuel
economy, and the automaker is on pace to pass Honda. So,
why attack the company actually doing MORE than any other
automaker on the issue NRDC cares about most?
More important, however, would Congress change their mind
if Toyota advocated for a higher increase in CAFE?
Please?! In terms of CAFE, it's all about Detroit. Every
member of Congress that is taking a tempered approach to
CAFE is trying to protect Detroit's automakers.
"They market every night the Prius
and the Toyota Camry — we're the green car, huh? Then
watch the football games, and they're marketing the Toyota
Tundra — like the biggest vehicle ever made," Rep.
Edward Markey, D-Mass., a Camry
hybrid owner, said Wednesday in a speech at an
environmental conference.
Actually, I think the Hummer is bigger, Ed. And, aren't
those big vehicles Detroit's bread and butter? Aren't
these big vehicles why some in Congress are fighting CAFE?
So, why not focus on the real problem? Then again, that is
the politician's trick, right, Ed? Focus on
inconsequential issues instead of focusing on the real
problem.
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