Obama administration's biggest climate accomplishment

It's the Obama administration's biggest climate accomplishment.

Send the White House a thank you card for strong fuel efficiency and carbon pollution standards today!

This morning, the Obama administration took the biggest step of any administration in history to cut climate pollution.

After working with automakers, autoworkers, and environmental advocates, the White House has announced final rules for cleaner cars. Together with earlier standards, these rules will double average fuel efficiency for new cars to 54.5 mpg by 2025, cutting their carbon pollution in half.

This is huge! Cleaner, more fuel-efficient cars mean we will start to break our reliance on oil, save money at the pump, and drastically cut climate pollution.

Will you send the White House a thank you card for this historic environmental achievement?

June and July were the hottest months ever recorded. As if that wasn't enough, this summer has also seen an oil pipeline spill in Wisconsin, a refinery fire in California, and disturbing new tar sands pipeline plans in New England. It's never been clearer that our nation needs to move beyond oil. That's why the president's announcement on cleaner cars that rely on much less or even no oil is so important.

Combined with previously announced standards, these new rules will reduce U.S. oil use by 3 million barrels a day. More efficient vehicles will also save the average new-car buyer $8,000 at the pump, even after paying for fuel saving technology -- keeping trillions out of Big Oil's pockets. These standards will reduce U.S. climate pollution by 570 million metric tons in 2030 alone. That's nearly 10% of our current annual carbon output -- the equivalent of shutting down 140 coal plants! 1

This is the Obama administration's biggest climate accomplishment. Will you send a thank you card today?

From the environment to the economy, these new standards are nothing but good news. According to a recent Blue Green Alliance study, these new standards will help create 570,000 new jobs across America. 2

But this isn't just the administration's biggest climate accomplishment -- it's also yours. Over the past year, Sierra Club activists sent more than 160,000 letters to the administration in support of raising the bar on fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas pollution standards. We wrote hundreds of letters to the editor and turned out in droves to hearings in Detroit, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.

This kind of leadership will help move the U.S. beyond oil. We need to let the White House know the nation noticed and applauds -- send your thank you card to the White House today!

Time and time again, we've seen that when we speak with one voice, we can make a difference. Put the capstone on this victory today and reinforce it with a thank you card.

Thanks for all you do to protect our environment,

Ann Mesnikoff
Sierra Club Green Transportation Director