Getting Arizona off oil
Arizona has one of the best fuel-efficiency standards in the nation, keeping global warming emissions out of our air while saving Arizonans money at the pump. We’re fighting to stop Gov. Brewer from undoing that progress — and working with our national federation on a plan to help America break its oil addiction.
The cost of our oil addiction
Arizona’s families are paying more than ever for our addiction to oil. With rising global demand and instability in the Middle East pushing oil prices ever higher, oil dependence takes an enormous bite out of our paychecks and our economy. But the prices that we pay with our wallets are only a fraction of the true costs of our addiction to oil.
We pay for it with our lungs, every time we breathe in toxic chemicals released from burning oil.
We also pay for our oil with our rivers, oceans and parks. In 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster dumped 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and contaminated thousands of miles of coastline. And in 2011, an ExxonMobil pipeline spilled and dumped 42,000 gallons of oil into the Yellowstone River, which runs through the national park.
It doesn't have to be this way. Our clean cars standard, passed in 2008, has the potential to keep millions of metric tons of global warming pollution out of the air, and save Arizona households hundreds of dollars at the pump. While we work to defend our progress at the state level, our federal staff and allies made encouraging inroads in our nationwide effort to break America's oil addiction.
At 54.5 mpg, a big move to get America off oil
Last summer, in the wake of the Yellowstone spill, our staff and allies got straight to work, mobilizing 10,000 people to voice their support for clean cars that use less oil.
The Obama administration responded by announcing two big steps toward getting America off oil:
- The administration announced new fuel economy standards that will make 54.5-mpg cars the norm by 2025. This is the single biggest step ever taken to reduce oil consumption and global warming pollution.
- The Obama administration also announced the first-ever standard for trucks, which will save more than 20 billion gallons of gasoline by 2018.
In the weeks and months ahead, Environment Arizona will continue its work to push these new standards past the finish line.
What you can do: Ten tips to get off oil
Strong fuel efficiency standards could be the most important policy ever enacted to reduce our oil dependence and global warming pollution. However, small changes can also add up to a big difference.
Click here for our Top 10 Tips to use less oil and shrink your carbon footprint.
Tell President Obama that you support a federal 54.5 mpg fuel efficiency standard.
Key Facts
- Our federal global warming program director, Nathan Willcox, thanked President Obama for announcing a plan to double fuel efficiency standards nationwide to an average of 54.5 mpg by 2025. Arizona helped paved the way with our pioneering clean cars standards, but Gov. Brewer is trying to roll them back.
- The new national standard would result in Americans saving $101 billion at the gas pump in 2030 and cut annual oil use by 44 billion gallons by 2025.
- The new standard would cut annual emissions of global warming pollution by as much as 280 million metric tons by 2030.
- There's much more to be done: By increasing our transit capacity by 10 percent annually, we could reduce transportation-related global warming emissions 40 percent by 2030.