hybridaction

HybridAction: Support Tax Credits for Clean Vehicles

Sen. Orin Hatch (R-Utah) recently reintroduced the CLEAR ACT (S.971)--legislation to provide performance-based tax incentives for the purchase of advanced vehicle and fuel technology. The legislation would provide up to a $4,000 consumer credit for hybrid and alternative fuel cars and light trucks, scaled by the level of advanced technology and fuel economy. The House of Representatives, however, just passed an Energy Bill that focuses incentives on diesel technology that produces 4-10 times more smog forming pollution than current hybrids. Ask your senators to cosponsor the CLEAR ACT as a sensible, forward-thinking incentive package for better, cleaner cars.

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Dear Senator,

(Edit Letter Below)

I am writing to ask you to cosponsor Senator Hatch's CLEAR ACT legislation (S.971) to give tax breaks for genuine advanced car technologies that will help put us on the path to a healthier, more secure future.

I believe the auto industry has the engineering talent to give us cars, pickups, minivans, and SUVs in all sizes that can reduce our foreign oil dependence, help reduce the public health threats of smog, soot, and heat-trapping pollution, and save some cash at the gas pump as well.  That is why I am willing to support spending my taxpayer dollars on a tax break that would help automakers sell clean and advanced technology hybrid, natural gas, and fuel cell vehicles for the next decade.

What I do not want to see is my taxpayer dollars going for a direct subsidy to help automakers push existing diesel technology onto the American market, especially when there are no ties to pollution controls needed to meet average public health standards.  That seems to be the approach in the House of Representatives, as indicated in their Energy Bill (H.R. 6).  Diesels do not provide any greater fuel economy benefit than an equally priced vehicle package that includes advanced gasoline technologies and diesels can pose a greater risk to public health.  The CLEAR ACT is a better way to use our money to help lead consumers and automakers to a dynamic, job-creating market rather than the stagnant one that currently plagues both our American auto companies and the buying public.

Please co-sponsor the CLEAR ACT and help ensure that its language, not the House language, is what is ultimately agreed to.

I look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your address]

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HybridAction: Support Tax Credits for Clean Vehicles