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Arkansas groups ask radio stations to pull auto industry's ads Wednesday, Jun 13, 2007 By John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - Environmental and consumer advocates said Tuesday they are calling on Arkansas radio stations to stop airing what they claim are inaccurate and misleading ads about the debate in Congress over fuel-efficiency standards. The Arkansas Climate Awareness Project, the Arkansas Public Policy Panel, the Center for American Progress and the National Environmental Trust claim an ad campaign paid for by the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers misrepresents legislation that would set new mileage standards for vehicles. "The message of those advertisements is misleading, and we are calling on Arkansas radio stations to pull them off the air. These ads contain false claims and factually inaccurate information," April Ambrose of the Arkansas Climate Awareness Project said Tuesday in a media conference call. One of the ads states that Congress is considering "extreme fuel-economy mandates" that will force automakers to build smaller cars and "put safety in the back seat." Another ad states that Congress wants to "set the same fuel-economy standard for pickup trucks that they use for cars." Seth Horstmeyer, deputy field director for the National Environmental Trust, said several fuel-efficiency bills are pending in Congress, none of which would require identical standards for cars and trucks. Each of the bills would allow different standards to be set for vehicles with different attributes, such as size, with the goal of reaching a certain corporate average fuel economy, or CAFE, standard for the entire fleet of vehicles, he said. Horstmeyer also said the National Academy of Sciences has reported to Congress that the technology exists to increase fuel efficiency without sacrificing size or safety. Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers spokesman Wade Newton said Tuesday the alliance stands by its ads. Newton said an average standard may not require every truck to get the same mileage as every car, but it does force automakers to balance heavy vehicles with lighter vehicles that require less fuel. "A car that can balance out a large pickup truck that consumers want would have to be really, really small. Well, that threatens the large cars, because there's a chance that auto manufacturers will stop producing those big cars and trucks to meet the CAFE average," he said. Newton said the National Academy of Sciences study that Horstmeyer cited acknowledged a connection between vehicle weight and safety. "The down-weighting and downsizing that occurred in the late '70s and early '80s, some of which was due to CAFE standards, probably resulted in an additional 1,300 to 2,600 traffic fatalities in 1993," according to the study, he said. The study goes on to say that with today's technology, "it is technically feasible and potentially economical to improve fuel economy without reducing vehicle weight or size and, therefore, without significantly affecting the safety or motor vehicle travel." The National Environmental Trust said in a news release it has sent a letter to radio stations asking them to pull the auto industry's ads. Arkansas Radio Network sales manager Neal Gladner said Tuesday he had not seen the letter. Gladner said the network has been running the auto industry's ads, as well as ads by the Pew Campaign for Fuel Efficiency that express an opposing view. Gladner said he could not recall any situation in which ARN pulled an advocacy ad because a group disagreed with it. "Ads from interest groups like that generally tell their side of the story, and those are generally subjective," he said. |
