Testimony to Commonwealth of PA on Hybrid Cars
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February 17, 2004 Good Afternoon. Thank you, Representative Leach for this opportunity to support the procurement of hybrid cars for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. My comments will focus on HB 1946, PN 2541 -though the Sierra Club, Pennsylvania Chapter can not express direct support for this legislation today, we will be meeting at the end of February and I will request a discussion, and possible endorsement, of this legislation at that time. My name is Nancy Parks. I have been the chair of the Sierra Club, Pennsylvania Chapter’s Clean Air Committee since 1985. I have worked on air quality issues for Pennsylvania since 1982, and I am past chair of the Sierra Club’s national Air Committee. I have also served on the Air Quality Technical Advisory Committee to both the PADER and PADEP, through four Governors, since 1993. I have a BS in Science/Human Genetics from Penn State University in 1973, and a Master’s in Soil Genesis and Morphology/Remote Sensing in 1985, with a minor in Geography, also from Penn State. I will address personal experience today and later on address your specific proposed legislation HB 1946, PN 2541, and offer some recommendations that will benefit the Commonwealth and its citizens. Why should we care about how clean our cars are? Why should we – including state government - care about our personal contributions to air pollution emissions? Transportation – i.e. highway vehicles, both cars and trucks – is responsible for (nationally) greater than 50% of the nitrogen oxides (component of ozone smog), about 9% of mercury (a deadly neuro-toxin), about 10% of sulfur oxides (precursor to acid rain), and also volatile organic chemicals, 80% of which are toxic, and a second component of ozone smog formation. Here in Pennsylvania, highway emissions comprise 56% of total nitrogen oxides from mobile source sector and greater than 22% from off-road vehicle emissions. As for VOC’s, more than 33% is highway pollution, and almost 21% (20.82%) is from of-road vehicles. Pennsylvania continues to rank among the worst in the nation for air pollution emissions. (see EPA Air Trends 2001.) Hybrid cars can be a blessing. They can help to painlessly move Pennsylvania toward cleaning up its vast air pollution problem. My husband and I have owned fuel efficient cars since 1993. The Honda Civic VX is a subcompact that gave us 45 – 59 mpg, starting 10 years ago. We have owned a Honda Insight 2000 hybrid for almost four years, and we average 64 mpg and have achieved 84 mpg. With a ‘lead foot’, you’ll get less. We have now ordered a Toyota Prius hybrid for business use to replace my Civic VX that has performed so very reliably for 237,000 + miles. The public response to the Honda Insight has been extraordinary from the beginning. The car is recognized, desired; they love the look of it, the idea of it. The car has engendered a recognition that I’ve not seen with any of the other meager fuel efficiency efforts from Detroit or foreign companies. Hybrids have captured the public imagination; from the first the Insight was recognized and admired. People from high school age to senior citizens had read about it and remembered. Every time we took it anywhere near people, we were accosted with questions. Frequently asked questions: I believe that hybrids are very safe cars; in fact I know this from personal experience, and in spite of its small size of the Insight hybrid. Let me tell you of my personal experience. Just briefly. Now, getting down to the nitty-gritty. Included here is a quick comparison of characteristics from some popular hybrids and popular cars, SUV’s and trucks. (American Council on Energy Efficient Economy’s Green Book 2003. www.GreenerCars.com Published annually.) I would encourage everyone to take a look at this annual publication, because whether you chose a hybrid or not, I hope and encourage everyone to make fuel efficiency a major criterion in any search for a new vehicle.
This comparison serves to illustrate why I’m here to urge you to firstly, to pass legislation to encourage the Commonwealth to procure not hybrid SUV’s, but multi-passenger hybrid cars for its fleet. Secondly, hybrid cars should be produced here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In the 1980’s I owed a VW Rabbit that was manufactured here in Pennsylvania. I understand that that factory in still empty in western Pennsylvania; we should fill it with Pennsylvania hybrid car production, especially a family size sedan and station wagon-like Toyota Prius. I hope that production of even a non-American vehicle here in Pennsylvania - even one that isn’t a Detroit brainstorm - would fulfill the Title 62 requirement for “manufactured in America”. We believe that you can actually purchase cleaner vehicles sooner and at a higher percentage than 10% - as is proposed in HB 1946, Title 62: § 3734 (a) (1) - if the Commonwealth can bring hybrid vehicle production here to Pennsylvania . Third, I noticed that the statute clearly does not include rentals or leases of vehicles for less than one month within the definition of “Procure”; therefore, we believe that the Commonwealth should make it a priority and a policy to rent hybrids – even non-American hybrids right now, since it would appear that the language of the law would allow that. After all, the focus is on lowering air pollution here in Pennsylvania, and protecting human health throughout the Commonwealth. The Sierra Club believes that we are all responsible for our own pollution. Therefore, we believe that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania should re-focus all of its manufacturing and energy production to support energy conservation, energy efficiency, fuel efficiency, the recycling and re-use of renewable materials and the production of electricity and energy using cleaner, renewable fuels. Now, I’d like to include here a description of a statute and policy recommendation for incentives for buying hybrid and other fuel efficient vehicles: a ‘closed loop’ program that is not an ‘unfunded mandate’. Hybrids may just be the vehicle – no pun intended – for painlessly changing the way that Pennsylvanians buy their vehicles and also drive their vehicles. We should support this cultural change in every way that we can. Way back during the Governor Casey administration, I worked with the PA Energy Office and Lt. Governor Mark Singel to pass legislation that relieved the sales tax for those individuals buying electric cars. So I’d like to propose that legislation be introduced, or included within this package, that will also relieve the sales tax for those persons purchasing hybrid vehicles; since we have a precedent for this tax relief already ‘on the books’. I would also like to propose an additional statute that would provide for a hybrid vehicle purchase incentive – similar to that funded now through the Alternative Fuels Grant Program – but would here be funded by a fee on gas guzzler vehicles. This would provide a positive incentive for hybrid purchase and a disincentive for buying highly polluting gas guzzlers, and help to push Detroit into actually manufacturing hybrid American vehicles. In summary, the Sierra Club is pleased that the House of Representatives in the Pennsylvania General Assembly has chosen to focus its attention on purchasing cleaner fueled, lower polluting vehicles here for state use. Actively pursuing hybrid vehicle production here in Pennsylvania – especially of a family size multi-passenger sedan – would be very positive step forward for furnishing opportunities for every citizen to participate in lowering our dependence on foreign oil, thereby yielding great environmental and human health benefit. We hope that you will seriously consider and support our proposal for a closed loop funding mechanism for providing incentives for hybrid vehicle purchase for all Pennsylvanians and not just the Commonwealth. Thank You. Nancy F. Parks 201 West Aaron Square Return to Clean Air Committee page Sierra Club® and "Explore,
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