In the last few months, you’ve kept
pressure on our legislators, federal agencies, and presidential
candidates. You've pushed for strong national climate
legislation, helped us achieve clean energy victories in
states throughout the country, and demanded a serious
reassessment of U.S.
nuclear weapons policy.
But we've got more to do. This summer, we
will work together to ensure our fuel economy victory in the
2007 Energy Bill stands strong. We'll be looking to you to
continue advancing strong climate legislation and demanding
modern food production alternatives that can produce the
quantity of food we need, while protecting the foundations of
our food supply—like healthy soil and fresh water.
Thank you for continuing to
take action for a healthy environment and a safer
world.
Global
Warming
The Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act
(S. 2191)—a bill with a strong framework for reducing
global warming pollution—is swiftly approaching a vote by
the full Senate this summer. In anticipation, UCS activists have
sent their senators more than 23,000 letters and made nearly
2,000 phone calls over the past few months. In fact, one day a
Senate aide remarked, “UCS activists topped our mail
count.” Your engagement has helped ensure that strong
action on global warming remains a top priority for
Congress. More
. . .
Clean
Energy
In addition to urging
Congress to extend critical tax credits for energy efficiency
and renewable energy, UCS activists helped support
renewable energy standards in several states, requiring
utilities to provide a growing percentage of power from
renewable sources like the sun and wind. Our supporters also
helped promote the nation’s first-of-its-kind offshore
wind farm and sent a message to the Kansas legislature that coal
is not the answer. More
. . .
Clean
Vehicles
Despite persistent industry and political
pressure, UCS activists continue to push for strong fuel economy
and low carbon fuel standards, as well as tougher
vehicle pollution regulations. Last year’s fuel
economy success recently came under threat when the
Bush administration attempted to undermine the effectiveness of
the new law. The administration also backed automaker allies as
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson
blocked state authority to regulate global warming pollution
from cars. More
. . .
Food and
Environment
In April, UCS issued a landmark
report—CAFOs Uncovered: the Untold Costs of Confined
Animal Feeding Operations—examining the economic,
health, and environmental costs we are paying as a society for
these huge crowded facilities. The report demonstrates that
smaller, less damaging operations often can be as cost
effective as CAFOs. It also outlines important policy
changes needed to protect our food, health, environment, and
communities, and to support smarter alternatives for food
production. UCS has also weighed in on a proposed new label on
meat from “naturally raised” animals and continues
to push for legislation to end the overuse of antibiotics in
animal feed. More
. . .
Scientific
Integrity
This spring, thanks in
part to the help of UCS activists like you, Congress passed
major legislation that will help federal government scientists
protect the U.S. public from unsafe toys and other products. A
new report exposing pervasive political interference at the
Environmental Protection Agency leads the charge for agency
reform, while a new call-to-action lays the groundwork for
restoring integrity to government science under a new
administration. Next week, we'll testify
twice on Capitol Hill about political interference in
science. And, get your pens ready! It’s time for
this year's editorial cartoon contest! More
. . .
Global
Security
More than 23,500 UCS
activists have submitted comments to the Department of Energy
(DOE) opposing Complex Transformation, a plan to recreate a Cold
War-like infrastructure for designing, developing, and producing
new nuclear weapons. Your efforts represent nearly a fourth
of all the comments the DOE received nationwide. In addition,
all of the 2008 presidential candidates are now discussing the
future of U.S. nuclear weapons policy. Meanwhile, the Bush
administration's controversial plan to reprocess spent fuel from
nuclear reactors has been slowed considerably. More
. . .
Invasive
Species
In April, UCS activists urged their
representatives to protect our nation’s waters from
aquatic invasive species by voting in favor of the Coast Guard
Authorization Act of 2008. With your help—even when faced
with a veto threat from the president—the bill passed the
House in a landslide victory, 395 to 7! “Title V” of
the bill will help prevent ships from inadvertently
transporting potentially damaging plants and
animals from one port to another. Stay tuned in the weeks
ahead for your chance to help repeat our victory in the Senate.
More
. . .
Where is the Truth in Ethanol Advertising?
Where is the Truth in Ethanol
Advertising?
Dear William,
Increasing the fuel economy of
our nation’s vehicles is vital to addressing rising gas
prices and the health and environmental risks of unchecked
global warming. But for transportation to truly become a climate
solution, we must also reduce the heat-trapping emissions
created by the fuels our vehicles burn.
Unfortunately, this desire for cleaner
alternatives to gasoline has led to serious misrepresentations
around today’s ethanol—a biofuel derived primarily
from corn in the United States. If pursued wisely,
biofuels such as ethanol have the potential to play a pivotal
role in a clean transportation future. But when issues
such as fertilizer use, energy for processing, and land use are
taken into account, gallon for gallon, current production
methods for corn ethanol could actually create
more global warming pollution than
today’s gasoline.
Despite these facts, today’s corn ethanol is
still being marketed by many producers and automakers as an
environmental solution.
The
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) created Green Guides in
1992 to protect consumers from misrepresentations in
environmental advertising, but the guide doesn’t currently
cover fuel advertising. For the first time in a decade, the FTC
is reviewing these guides. Please urge FTC Chairman William Kovacic to take
this opportunity to address the issue of misrepresentations in
today’s ethanol
advertising.
Sincerely, Scott Nathanson National Field Organizer UCS
Clean Vehicles Program
Subject: Green
Guides should address ethanol advertising
Dear Chairman Kovacic,
As the Federal Trade Commission reviews its "Green
Guides" for environmental marketing and advertising, I urge you
to review the marketing of today's corn-based ethanol and so
called "Flex Fuel" ethanol or gasoline powered vehicles
(FFVs).
Environmental
advertisements for ethanol as a green alternative to gasoline
have exploded recently. These green-marketing techniques, such
as General Motors' "Live Green, Go Yellow" campaign, are not
based on sound science. Indeed, when issues like fertilizer use,
energy for processing, and land use are taken into account,
current corn ethanol production could actually represent an
increase in the production of global warming pollution over
today's gasoline.
Given that
transportation accounts for nearly 40 percent of the total
global warming pollution produced by the United States, ensuring
that consumers are getting the appropriate information to make
sound choices is crucial. For this reason, the FTC should
conduct its next public meeting on the environmental marketing
of today's ethanol, and make adjustments to the "Green Guides"
based on the best available science.
Tell-A-Friend: Visit the web address
below to tell your friends about this. Tell-a-Friend!
What's At
Stake: The Union
of Concerned Scientists began its Smart Bioenergy
Initiative—a guide to sustainable development of bio-based
energy and fuels—with its report, Biofuels: An
Important Part of a Low Carbon Diet. This report notes that while
biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel could play a part in a
low-carbon transportation fuels future, issues such as land use,
crop type, and production, can actually cause some forms of
bioenergy to end up producing more carbon than conventional
gasoline.
In order to ensure a lower carbon path for
biofuels, the report advocates for the government to conduct
rigorous lifecycle carbon tracking of biofuels as part of a Low
Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) that would seek to reduce global
warming pollution from all fuels used in transportation. While a
LCFS has yet to pass at the federal level, a revised version of
the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) passed as part of the 2007
Energy Bill. By setting global warming pollution standards for
renewable fuels and including a full lifecycle carbon tracking
system, the RFS has the potential to lower global warming
pollution from cars and light trucks by as much as 6 percent in
2022, while displacing about 15 percent of U.S. projected
gasoline consumption.
However, the RFS does not regulate
global warming pollution from existing biofuel producers. And
the way current corn-ethanol is produced in the United States
simply does not make it a low-carbon fuel. Indeed, in 2022 the
low carbon fuels in the RFS should reduce global warming
pollution by 6 percent, but according to one recent analysis,
including indirect land use changes, the extra emissions from
the unregulated corn ethanol could increase overall pollution by
5 percent, wiping out most of the benefits of the regulated
renewable fuels. More .
.
.
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The Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act
(S. 2191)—a bill with a strong framework for reducing
global warming pollution—is swiftly approaching a vote by
the full Senate this summer. In anticipation, UCS activists have
sent their senators more than 23,000 letters and made nearly
2,000 phone calls over the past few months. In fact, one day a
Senate aide remarked, “UCS activists topped our mail
count.” Your engagement has helped ensure that strong
action on global warming remains a top priority for
Congress. 
In addition to urging
Congress to extend critical tax credits for energy efficiency
and renewable energy, UCS activists helped support
renewable energy standards in several states, requiring
utilities to provide a growing percentage of power from
renewable sources like the sun and wind. Our supporters also
helped promote the nation’s first-of-its-kind offshore
wind farm and sent a message to the Kansas legislature that coal
is not the answer. 
Despite persistent industry and political
pressure, UCS activists continue to push for strong fuel economy
and low carbon fuel standards, as well as tougher
vehicle pollution regulations. Last year’s fuel
economy success recently came under threat when the
Bush administration attempted to undermine the effectiveness of
the new law. The administration also backed automaker allies as
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson
blocked state authority to regulate global warming pollution
from cars. 
In April, UCS issued a landmark
report—CAFOs Uncovered: the Untold Costs of Confined
Animal Feeding Operations—examining the economic,
health, and environmental costs we are paying as a society for
these huge crowded facilities. The report demonstrates that
smaller, less damaging operations often can be as cost
effective as CAFOs. It also outlines important policy
changes needed to protect our food, health, environment, and
communities, and to support smarter alternatives for food
production. UCS has also weighed in on a proposed new label on
meat from “naturally raised” animals and continues
to push for legislation to end the overuse of antibiotics in
animal feed. 
This spring, thanks in
part to the help of UCS activists like you, Congress passed
major legislation that will help federal government scientists
protect the U.S. public from unsafe toys and other products. A
new report exposing pervasive political interference at the
Environmental Protection Agency leads the charge for agency
reform, while a new call-to-action lays the groundwork for
restoring integrity to government science under a new
administration. Next week, we'll testify
twice on Capitol Hill about political interference in
science. And, get your pens ready! It’s time for
this year's editorial cartoon contest! 
More than 23,500 UCS
activists have submitted comments to the Department of Energy
(DOE) opposing Complex Transformation, a plan to recreate a Cold
War-like infrastructure for designing, developing, and producing
new nuclear weapons. Your efforts represent nearly a fourth
of all the comments the DOE received nationwide. In addition,
all of the 2008 presidential candidates are now discussing the
future of U.S. nuclear weapons policy. Meanwhile, the Bush
administration's controversial plan to reprocess spent fuel from
nuclear reactors has been slowed considerably. 
In April, UCS activists urged their
representatives to protect our nation’s waters from
aquatic invasive species by voting in favor of the Coast Guard
Authorization Act of 2008. With your help—even when faced
with a veto threat from the president—the bill passed the
House in a landslide victory, 395 to 7! “Title V” of
the bill will help prevent ships from inadvertently
transporting potentially damaging plants and
animals from one port to another. Stay tuned in the weeks
ahead for your chance to help repeat our victory in the Senate.
Increasing the fuel economy of
our nation’s vehicles is vital to addressing rising gas
prices and the health and environmental risks of unchecked
global warming. But for transportation to truly become a climate
solution, we must also reduce the heat-trapping emissions
created by the fuels our vehicles burn.
Tell-a-Friend!
