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MANUFACTURERS ALLIANCE 

The Honorable Ray LaHood

	

The Honorable Lisa Jackson 

Secretary	

Administrator 

Department of Transportation	

Environmental Protection Agency 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE	1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW 

Washington, DC 20590	

Washington, DC 20004 

Dear Secretary LaHood and Administrator Jackson: 

Today jobs, the economy, and energy security are on the minds of every American. The South Carolina 

Manufacturers Alliance is focused on proactive policies to address these critical issues and grow our 

state toward a more secure future. Transportation is a critical component of our economic vitality, and 

given that your agencies are now developing national fuel economy standards for 2017-2025, we 

wanted to share our views. 

Safe, efficient, and reliable transportation impacts each individual, family, and business in our state. 

Jobs in South Carolina are all tied to cost effective transportation. With the recent increase in gas prices 

and turmoil in the Middle East, reducing fuel use and dependence on foreign oil are on all our minds. 

We support your efforts to improve fuel economy by laying out a long-term program, but encourage you 

to carefully consider a balanced and thoughtful approach. 

We encourage NHTSA and EPA to adopt a single, national fuel economy standard that considers 

America's needs for increased fuel economy while preserving the choices for families and businesses to 

meet their transportation needs without sacrificing affordability, safety, or jobs. NHTSA and EPA have 

already set strong standards for 2012-2016 that raise the fleet average by 40% to 35 miles per gallon. 

Looking forward, technology improvements should continue to support increases in fuel economy and 

greenhouse gas standards. However, we recognize that overreaching regulations can place a significant 

cost burden on individuals, families, and businesses in South Carolina. 

It is important that standards for 2017-2025 support a broad range of consumer needs in terms of utility 

and function. Americans need a range of vehicles to meet their family and business needs. Large 

families require automobiles with sufficient passenger space, including room for multiple child-safety 

seats in the back. Small businesses need vans and utility vehicles to conduct commerce. Agriculture 

depends on pickup, as do the construction industry and local trades. Manufacturing is an important 

1340 Bull Street	Columbia, South Carolina 29201


Phone: 803.7999695 Fax: 803.771.8738 Web site: www.myscma.com Email: admiii@myscma.com
source of revenue for our state and local communities, and companies depend on vehicles to carry out 

day-to-day business needs. 

South Carolina businesses all share the need for affordable transportation. The next phase of fuel 

economy standards should not pick winners and losers, but should support a variety of technologies and 

fuel diversity to preserve affordability. If fuel economy standards increase too quickly, resulting in more 

expensive vehicles, many of our state's consumers can be expected to hold on to their older vehicles 

longer and defer buying a new car, which could put jobs across the country at risk and delay compliance 

with federal air quality standards. Affordability, customer choice, and job preservation is as much a 

priority as raising fuel economy. 

At SCMA we think every day about ways to promote job creation and security for our state. We 

encourage you to carefully balance the factors that impact sensible fuel economy standards, including 

consumer choice, affordability, and the economic concerns that weigh on our nation's fragile recovery. 

Lewis F. Gossett 

President & CEO
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