|
| |
|
Energy policy |
| Energy policy being considered in the
U.S. Senate
[3-13-02]
Weekly Message March 11, 2002, #9 from the UCC
Justice and Peace Action Network
CAFÉ STANDARD
The Senate is debating an energy bill (S 517) aimed at reducing
dependence on foreign oil. The bill provides approximately $8 billion in
tax incentives to encourage conservation and $8 billion to encourage an
increase in energy production within the United States. The House passed
a very different bill focused on increasing U.S. oil production,
including drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The House
bill would cost about $33.5 billion. Critics of the House bill point out
that while increased oil production would reduce dependence on foreign
oil in the short-run, it would quickly lead to increased dependence
because U.S. oil reserves are small, only about 3 percent of all known
oil reserves. President Bush supports the House approach.
The Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) standards
were created by the 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act. Under
current CAFÉ rules, automakers must produce cars that collectively
average 27.5 miles per gallon. Light trucks and Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV)
must average 20.7 mpg.
Senators John Kerry (MA), John McCain (AZ), and Ernest
Hollings (SC) have offered amendments to increase CAFÉ standards for
all passenger vehicles to 35 mpg by 2013 or 2015. Automakers oppose any
increase in CAFÉ standards just as they opposed any fuel standards in
1975. Technology already exists to raise fuel efficiency to 40 mpg.
As people of faith, we are called to be stewards of
Creation and all its goodness. Since its second meeting in 1959, the UCC
General Synod has called "for conservation and the development of
the earth's resources for the benefit of all people now and in the
future" (Call to Christian Action in Society, 1959). With
additional knowledge of the effects of global warming, the Twenty-Second
General Synod urged members of the UCC to advocate with their elected
officials in support of legislation that "provides alternatives to
burning fossil fuels" (Global Warming, 1999).
ACTION REQUESTED
Advocates are urged to call their Senators:(202)
224-3121
Advocates are encouraged to emphasize that they have a
Christian concern to protect the environment and improve the stewardship
and equitable use of oil by raising the CAFÉ standards for all
passenger vehicles.
|
| |
| |
|
If you like what
you find here,
we hope you'll help us keep Voices for Justice going ... and
growing!
Please consider making a special
contribution -- large or small -- to help us continue and improve
this service.
Click here to send a
gift online, using your credit card, through PayPal.
Or send your check, made
out to "Presbyterian Voices for Justice" and marked "web site," to
our PVJ Treasurer:
Darcy Hawk
4007 Gibsonia Road
Gibsonia, PA 15044-8312 |
| |
|
Some blogs worth visiting |
|
PVJ's
Facebook page
Mitch Trigger, PVJ's
Secretary/Communicator, has created a Facebook page where
Witherspoon members and others can gather to exchange news and
views. Mitch and a few others have posted bits of news, both
personal and organizational. But there’s room for more!
You can post your own news and views,
or initiate a conversation about a topic of interest to you. |
| |
|
Voices of Sophia blog
Heather Reichgott, who has created
this new blog for Voices of Sophia, introduces it:
After fifteen years of scholarship
and activism, Voices of Sophia presents a blog. Here, we present the
voices of feminist theologians of all stripes: scholars, clergy,
students, exiles, missionaries, workers, thinkers, artists, lovers
and devotees, from many parts of the world, all children of the God
in whose image women are made. .... This blog seeks to glorify God
through prayer, work, art, and intellectual reflection. Through
articles and ensuing discussion we hope to become an active and
thoughtful community. |
| |
|
John Harris’ Summit to
Shore blogspot
Theological and philosophical
reflections on everything between summit to shore, including
kayaking, climbing, religion, spirituality, philosophy, theology,
politics, culture, travel, The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), New
York City and the Queens neighborhood of Ridgewood by a progressive
New York City Presbyterian Pastor. John is a former member of the
Witherspoon board, and is designated pastor of North Presbyterian
Church in Flushing, NY. |
| |
|
John Shuck’s Shuck and Jive
A Presbyterian minister, currently
serving as pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethton,
Tenn., blogs about spirituality, culture, religion (both organized
and disorganized), life, evolution, literature, Jesus, and
lightening up. |
| |
|
Got more blogs to recommend?
Please
send a note, and we'll see what we can do! |
| |
|
