SAFE Praises New Fuel Economy Rules

WASHINGTON, May 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Securing America's Future Energy
(SAFE) today praised the Obama administration for its announcement of
aggressive national fuel economy goals for cars and light trucks.

"The policy announced today combines two absolutely essential elements:
aggressive new fuel economy goals, and a national framework that provides
regulatory certainty for the industry," SAFE President and CEO Robbie Diamond
said. "We commend the administration on their ambitious approach -- one that
follows recommendations we have made not only to improve fuel economy
standards, but to do so as aggressively as possible in the upcoming years
instead of putting it off, and one that sets a consistent national standard
instead of a patchwork of different rules."

The new rules will increase the national fleetwide average standard for cars
and light trucks to 35.5 miles per gallon (39 mpg for cars and 30 mpg for
light trucks) by 2016, four years faster than required by the 2007 Energy
Independence and Security Act (EISA). The new standards will be applied
nationwide.

"Reducing the amount of oil consumed by our transportation sector -- which
today accounts for 70 percent of the petroleum our country uses every single
day -- is a crucial step toward a safer, more prosperous nation," Diamond
continued. "But it cannot be the final step. Ultimately, as long as our cars
and trucks, and therefore our entire economy, are dependent on oil, we remain
vulnerable. It is crucial that policymakers in both the House and Senate
continue to move forward with proposed comprehensive legislation that will
eventually result in an electrified transportation system fueled by a wide
variety of domestic fuels instead of oil."

In 2006, the Energy Security Leadership Council (ESLC) -- a group of business
executives and retired military leaders led by General P.X. Kelley (Ret.),
28th Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, and Frederick W. Smith, Chairman,
President and CEO of FedEX Corporation -- released their Recommendations to
the Nation on Reducing U.S. Oil Dependence, helping shape 2007's EISA. In
September 2008, the ESLC released A National Strategy for Energy Security, a
new plan building on the accomplishments of 2007 by proposing the
electrification of the short-haul transportation fleet along with all of the
required infrastructural upgrades necessary for that effort, and measures --
including increased oil and natural gas production -- to keep our nation
secure in the interim. Earlier this year, legislation encapsulating many of
the fundamental elements of the National Strategy was introduced in both the
U.S. House and Senate.

Securing America's Future Energy (SAFE) is an action-oriented, nonpartisan
organization that aims to reduce America's dependence on oil and improve U.S.
energy security to bolster national security and strengthen the economy.

SOURCE Securing America's Future Energy

Jonathan Grella of SAFE, +1-202-461-2360