SUVOA: ANWR for CAFE? - A Deadly Bargain

'Death by the Barrel' Would Join 'Death by the Mile'

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17 -- Trading drilling rights in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for higher Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) for vehicles is quite literally an exchange of blood for oil, said SUVOA, a non-profit group representing owners of SUVs, pickups and vans. The trial balloon ANWR-for-CAFE proposal recently was floated to break the current budget bill stalemate.

"Horse-trading on Capitol Hill is normal, but trading human lives is not," said Ron Defore, communications director for SUVOA. "As currently structured, CAFE is a 'death by the mile' proposition. This irresponsible proposal would add 'death by the barrel' to that gory equation.

"SUVOA staunchly supports genuine efforts to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil. But no deal on ANWR is far better than this deal with the devil."

A myriad of respected independent authorities have catalogued CAFE's deadly side effects since its inception three decades ago:

  * As recently as August 2005, the Administrator of the National Highway
    Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) stated:  "Every tenth of mile a
    gallon that we raise CAFE beyond what is technologically feasible, we
    kill people."

  * In 2001, the National Academy of Sciences affirmed that earlier
    downsizing of vehicles following the imposition of CAFE regulations
    resulted in the following ANNUAL carnage:  an additional 1,300 to 2,600
    deaths and an additional 20,000 serious injuries per year.

  * A Harvard School of Public Health-Brookings Institution study in the
    1990s found that vehicle downsizing due to federal fuel economy mandates
    increased occupant deaths by 14 to 27 percent.

  * An in-depth analysis by USA Today in 1999 using NHTSA and auto insurance
    industry data found that since 1975, 7,700 additional deaths occurred
    for every mile per gallon gained.  By 1999 vehicle downsizing had killed
    more than 46,000 Americans.  Factoring in the ensuing six years through
    2005, the total conservatively eclipses 55,000 -- equivalent to a
    sold-out Washington Nationals game at RFK Stadium.

SUVOA is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving the interests of 80 million SUV, pickup and van owners. For more information, visit http://www.suvoa.com/.