RVDA Urges Congress to Set Realistic Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards

Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards are a hot topic here in Washington. There are many industries concerned about this legislation, including the RV industry. To represent your interests as effectively as possible, RVDA has joined with RVIA, the SUV Owners of America, the American Recreation Coalition, the marine industry, and many others to back realistic CAFE standards that protect our customers' ability to purchase vehicles with enough power to tow our products.

Last week, the U.S. Senate passed new energy legislation with higher CAFE standards, and now the debate moves to the House. Senators struck a deal for a 35 miles-per-gallon mandate for both cars and light trucks by model year 2020. The House Energy and Commerce Committee, chaired by industry ally John Dingell (D-MI), is expected to take up energy legislation later this week House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has pledged to consider energy legislation after the July 4th Congressional recess.

RVDA made these key points to key lawmakers last week:

Many RV enthusiasts depend on vehicles that can tow. CAFE-mandated vehicle downsizing lowered passenger car towing capacity to the point that, today, just one percent of these vehicles can tow even a lightweight, pop up camper. If extreme CAFE requirements are set and have the same effect on large SUVs and pickup trucks -- mainstay vehicles of the RV industry -- the ramifications for our members and the RV lifestyle that's valued by tens of millions of Americans will be in jeopardy.

We urge Congress to set realistic fuel economy goals that do not sacrifice performance -- and with special emphasis on making biofuels and clean diesel more readily available options for consumers. RVers would welcome wider availability and competitive pricing of fuels that burn cleaner and help decrease our dependence on imported oil.

In addition, RVDA signed on to several political advertisements sponsored by the SUV Owners of America aimed at lawmakers urging them to protect vehicle towing capacity.

The time is right for you to let your representative in Congress know how important SUVs and pickups that can tow RVs are to your business, your employees. Click Here or the link below to find your Congressional representative today.

Please send an e-mail to info@rvda.org to let us know how you feel on this important issue. We will keep you up to date on further developments.

Thanks for your support.