WASHINGTON—The Alliance to Save Energy released the following statement from President Jason Hartke after leaders of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works released a highway bill Monday. The Alliance’s 50x50 Commission – a group of private and public sector leaders – recently published a plan for Congress to take a series of steps in the highway bill to reduce energy use in transportation.

“Transportation is such a critical part of our economy – and now the top source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. It’s imperative that Congress use this highway bill to address the nation’s transportation needs while also seizing opportunities to significantly reduce energy use and emissions from the sector.”

“We can’t wait any longer. This is a five-year cycle and we have to think ahead and start building the next generation of transportation infrastructure. This isn’t just about building highways, it’s about making our entire transportation system more effective and efficient.”

“This bill is an encouraging start because it advances several opportunities to make transportation more efficient, to cut pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, and to boost U.S. productivity.”

“Senators Barrasso, Carper, Capito, and Cardin deserve praise for working together to develop this bipartisan plan. The Alliance commends them for introducing a bill that includes creating electric vehicle charging stations along highways; funding states to create programs to enable lower-emissions transportation; and helping our ports use energy more efficiently. The bill also takes steps to plan for a smarter and more efficient multi-modal transportation system in the future. These are all important steps.”

“This is just the beginning of the process, and Congress will need to ensure that funding mechanisms for the bill generate revenues from all vehicles impacting our infrastructure while not undermining the future growth of energy-efficient vehicles, including electric vehicles.”

About the Alliance to Save Energy

Founded in 1977, the Alliance to Save Energy is a nonprofit, bipartisan alliance of business, government, environmental and consumer leaders working to expand the economy while using less energy. Our mission is to promote energy productivity worldwide – including through energy efficiency – to achieve a stronger economy, a cleaner environment and greater energy security, affordability and reliability.

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