Consumers deserve the option that actually saves them money. Regarding your editorial “Stopping California’s Climate Imperialism” (Sept. 9): With family budgets already stretched thin, Americans paid more than $4 a gallon for gasoline on Labor Day. That’s because of recent federal policies and actions that are pushing prices higher.
Now there’s an effort in Washington to make sure cars and trucks use even more gasoline by making them less efficient. But we know the opposite to be true: When tailpipe emissions standards are strong, costs at the pump are lower, because cleaner cars and trucks burn less fuel.
The savings are real and add up. Since 2002, efficiency improvements have saved owners of newer pickups and SUVs nearly $9,920, and newer car owners about $9,100, over a vehicle’s lifetime. Yet all equipment upgrades, including clean vehicle technologies, have added just $3,040 to the cost of a vehicle.
That’s the choice in front of us: cleaner, more efficient vehicles that shield household budgets from volatile gas prices, or more of the same instability. Consumers deserve the option that actually saves them money. Sally Greenberg National Consumers League Washington
Source: Wall Street Journal US Business · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing