[Sosfbay-discuss] Boxer wants to hear from us so tell her we want green transportation!
Edward
the_alliance47 at yahoo.com
Tue Sep 23 20:52:18 PDT 2008
The following is from Senator Barbara Boxer. Let her know what you think. After her message is what I wrote to her.
Dear Friend:
Traffic and air
quality are issues that impact all Californians. We all hope to
quickly and safely travel to work or school and then home to our
families. We also all depend on clean air that is too often degraded by
cars, trucks and trains.
As the Chairman of the
Senate’s Committee on Environment and Public Works, one of my most
important priorities for the coming year is to authorize a new federal
highway, transit and highway safety bill. The aim of the bill is to
improve surface transportation nationwide, which can help improve our
air quality as well. My committee has begun the process to write
the next bill. I am writing to you both to offer some
information about the process and to ask for your thoughts about the focus and
priorities of the bill.
Recently, I held briefings in
California to hear from transportation officials in California about
their priorities. With the following links, you can watch video of
the two briefings in Sacramento and Los Angeles and read the testimony
of the witnesses:
Field Briefing in Los
Angeles
Field Briefing in Sacramento
I also want to hear from you. I want to know your
priorities for the next federal transportation bill. I hope you
will use the instructions at the bottom of this page to send me your
thoughts about what the transportation priorities for the nation should
be for the coming years. What can be done to best reduce
congestion? Do you want more public transit? What should be done
to more quickly move freight across the nation? While these are
not easy questions, I would like to hear from you. By considering
the thoughts of Californians, I think we can craft a better bill for
the nation.
Sincerely,Barbara Boxer
United States Senator
To
respond to this message, please click here.
This link will take you to a webpage where you can reply to messages
that you receive from Senator Boxer’s
office.
Dear Senator Boxer:
As one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, California is poised to take a leadership role in stopping global warming even if the United States does not. However, real change will need to happen in Washington DC to tackle this issue, so I am thankful that this is an issue that we both care about.
First, we need to seriously fund public transit and high speed rail in California and in major metropolitan areas instead of spending billions in the coming years expanding our highways and airports.
Second, we need to put serious pressure on the auto industry to produce green vehicles. Plug-in hybrid and electric vehicle technologies were available a decade ago, but GM decided to scrap the EV1. Learning from past mistakes, we need to increase our CAFE standards for cars to 60mpg and 45mpg for light trucks by 2012 if we are to reach the target of an 80% reduction in our greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. The current plan for 80% by 2050 is not enough if we are to stop global warming, even though vague and distant goals may be more politically convenient.
Lastly, we need to show the world that we mean business when we talk about getting rid of our addiction to dirty fuels such as oil. There is too much talk about biofuels such as ethanol and other unclean, non-sustainable energy sources for our nation's vehicles. We need to seriously invest in converting to a solar economy with 100% electric cars. Gasoline, ethanol, and hydrogen are not the ways of the future, despite what big auto and oil companies are telling Congress and ordinary Americans. We also need to adopt a nuclear-free energy policy, a policy that the Republicans are going to do a major push for in the near future. The Democratic Party CANNOT give in to nuclear lobbyists and the conservative agenda!
Thank you for prioritizing the future of transportation in our country and I hope to hear your thoughts about these matters soon.
Sincerely,
Edward Chow
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