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OmahaRiverFront.com
- BOATING CONSUMER NEWS
Senate Measure Threatens Towing
Vehicles
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Nancy Neurohr
OmahaRiverFront.com
published: 3/8/2002
The
following news release was issued by BOATU.S. on March 7, 2002 |
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 illions of boaters
and anglers who depend upon pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles
and minivans to tow their vessels to the nation's waterways may end
up with their boats high and dry if the current version of an
energy bill now in the U.S. Senate is approved.
A comprehensive energy bill being debated in the Senate, S. 517,
would mandate a significant increase in the fuel economy standards
for all passenger cars, vans and trucks by combining them into one
class of vehicle. The so-called Corporate Average Fuel Economy
(CAFE) rating
for all vehicles less than 10,000 lbs. would be raised to 35 miles
per gallon by 2013. There are currently two standards, 27.5 mpg for
cars and 20.7 mpg for "light trucks" which includes
pickup trucks less than 8,500 lbs., minivans and sport utility
vehicles (SUVs).
Automakers maintain that such a standard for all vehicles will
force them to drastically down-size American cars and trucks to
reach the 35 mpg target. The Bush Administration is strongly
opposed to S. 517.
"The existing CAFE standards are one of the reasons there are
now so few automobiles even capable of towing a boat," notes
BoatU.S. founder Richard Schwartz, whose 530,000-member association
is the largest organization of recreational boat owners in the
country. "While we certainly must work to decrease our
dependence on foreign oil and
reduce emissions, we shouldn't have to use a brush so broad that it
effectively prohibits millions of American anglers and boaters from
trailering their bass boats to their favorite fishing spot on the
weekends," he added.
An alternative measure offered by Sens. "Kit" Bond (R-MO)
and Carl Levin (D-MI) would return the setting of new CAFE
standards to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
and order the agency to draw up new standards for separate
categories of cars and trucks by a specified date. Another
alternative would be to create a
separate standard for towing vehicles used for recreation or
agriculture that would be exempt from the overall standards.
BoatU.S. is urging all trailer boaters to contact their own
senators as soon as possible and express their opposition to S.
517. At least 80% of America's 13 million boats are trailerable.
To find your own senator, go to www.boatus.com/gov/contact.htm
For more background on the CAFE issue go to www.vehiclechoice.org/cafe
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