From AAIA Capital Report
According to a Sept. 20 poll conducted by the Small Business Majority, 80 percent of small businesses support increasing the fuel economy requirements to 60 miles per gallon (mpg) by 2025. This finding was part of a larger study assessing the position of small businesses toward clean energy initiatives.
When asked about the Obama administration’s July 29 announcement proposing corporate average fuel economy standards of 54.5 mpg by 2025, the vast majority of small businesses favored a higher standard as a means to further cut their energy costs.
Other findings from the study were equally interesting. Eighty-seven percent of respondents supported the notion of increasing fuel standards now, 73 percent maintained that the government should do more to force automakers to innovate and 71 percent were of the opinion that automakers are not doing enough to innovate. In response to greenhouse gas emission standards being tacked on to the new fuel economy requirements, 76 percent of small businesses approved of EPA’s initiative to create these standards under the Clean Air Act. Despite these findings, 86 percent still do not view the federal government as an ally or believe that it understands their needs. Of the 1,257 businesses polled in this study, only 3 percent were in the transportation sector.