Gonzaga Debate Institute 2008 1

[Nielson/Ward/Brockaway] Auto’s Aff Updates

Fuel Efficiency Affirmative’s Updates
Fuel Efficiency Affirmative’s Updates............................................................................................1
Alternative Energy Topicality .........................................................................................................2
Incentives Topicality .......................................................................................................................4
Substantial Topicality.......................................................................................................................7
Answer To: Fuel Efficiency Solvency Take-Outs............................................................................8
Gonzaga Debate Institute 2008 2
[Nielson/Ward/Brockaway] Auto’s Aff Updates
Alternative Energy Topicality
We cannot move to alternative energy without improving fuel economy
Tommy Vietor, 2006 (“Senators Introduce Legislation to Reduce Gasoline Consumption by Half
a Trillion Gallons”, July 19, http://obama.senate.gov/press/060719-senators_introd/)

"If it was not clear before, it is now. Domestic energy policy is at the center of our foreign
policy," said Senator Joseph R. Biden. "For our national security we have to begin the transition
to alternative fuels. We can't do that without making progress on fuel economy by upgrading to a
better system that combines protection for U.S. automobile manufacturing jobs with predictable
increases in fuel efficiency standards for cars, SUVs and light trucks. "

Improving SUV fuel economy is necessary to transition to alternative energy

Tommy Vietor, 2006 (“Senators Introduce Legislation to Reduce Gasoline Consumption by Half
a Trillion Gallons”, July 19, http://obama.senate.gov/press/060719-senators_introd/)

"If it was not clear before, it is now. Domestic energy policy is at the center of our foreign
policy," said Senator Joseph R. Biden. "For our national security we have to begin the
transition to alternative fuels. We can't do that without making progress on fuel economy
by upgrading to a better system that combines protection for U.S. automobile
manufacturing jobs with predictable increases in fuel efficiency standards for cars, SUVs
and light trucks. "

Alternative energy must be energy conserving

UCLA Journal of Environmental Law & Policy, 1981 (Peter C. Hoffman, “ARTICLE:
SYMPOSIUM: MANDATING SOLAR HOT WATER HEATING IN NEW RESIDENTIAL
CONSTRUCTION BY LOCAL GOVERNMENTS: Mandating Solar Hot Water By California
Local Governments: Legal Issues”, Spring)

If a solar mandate is considered to be an energy conservation standard, § 25402.1(f)(2) provides

that the solar mandate will be preempted unless the CEC determines that the mandate will result
in reduced energy consumption and the enacting entity files express findings with the CEC
stating that the mandate is cost effective. Use of solar hot water systems does reduce the
consumption of conventional energy. Since our initial assumption for concluding that solar
mandates are covered by the Warren-Alquist Act is that changing to an alternative energy source
is construed to be energy conserving, the solar hot water system by definition passes the test of
reduced energy consumption. The only remaining requirement is that the local government file
findings of cost effectiveness with the CEC. To determine whether the CEC is granted any
review power over this finding, it is helpful to look to the legislative history of the cost
effectiveness provision in the Act.
Gonzaga Debate Institute 2008 3
[Nielson/Ward/Brockaway] Auto’s Aff Updates
The distinction between an alternative energy and a renewable is that the prior includes a
fossil energy, like coal
Energy Washington Week, 2005 (“States Now See Clean Coal As Alternative Energy Worthy Of
Subsidy”, March 2, p. lexis)

But this may become the norm, according to observers. NARUC is touting a Pennsylvania model
that allows waste coal and IGCC to count as part of its alternative energy mandate. The policy is
identical to renewable portfolio standards in numerous states across the country with one distinct
difference: it includes fossil energy.

Alternative energy is determined in opposition to a conventional energy.

Samuel B. Sterrett, member of the DC bar, 1996 (Virginia Tax Review, “USE OF INDUSTRY
DEFINITIONS IN INTERPRETATION OF THE INTERNAL REVENUE CODE: TOWARDS
A MORE SYSTEMATIC APPROACH”, Summer, p. 26-27)

The court's conclusion to ignore the industry definition was reached through the following rather
tortuous journey. First, section 44D was enacted to encourage the development of "alternative
energy sources" in the face of competition from "conventional fuels." The primary conventional
fuel that constituted the competition was crude oil. Therefore, a qualifying alternative energy
source must be something other than crude oil (i.e., a crude oil substitute). Because high
viscosity crude oil that could be produced through "currently used enhanced recovery
techniques" was nevertheless crude oil, it could not, by definition, constitute a crude oil
substitute and thereby be covered under section 44D of the Code. In crafting the foregoing
analytical matrix, the court appears to have been significantly (if not predominantly) influenced
by the legislative history of Title I of COWPTA, which adopted an expansive view of "crude oil"
(the subject of Title I's excise tax) excluding therefrom only "synthetic petroleum." At the end of
its analytical journey, the court essentially defined "oil produced from tar sands" as synthetic
petroleum rather than oil (fungible with any other oil) produced from a particular source.
Gonzaga Debate Institute 2008 4
[Nielson/Ward/Brockaway] Auto’s Aff Updates
Incentives Topicality
Incentives can target social activity
Thomas J. Berger, Inter American University of Puerto Rico, 2008 (“TAX INCENTIVES AND THE WAR
ON DRUGS”, http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=thomas_berger)

In addition to the economic incentives identified above, the tax code provides
incentives to individuals for a number of transactions of significant social consequence.
Examples include the deduction for adoption expenses,91 the child tax credit,92 and a
number of provisions targeting higher education.93 In addition, some couples
contemplating marriage also receive an incentive to “tie the knot” through a favorable tax
rate structure.94 These provisions (and rate structures in the case of marriage) arguably
lower the after-tax cost of engaging in socially desirable activities.

Incentives must induce new production or consumption

Edward A. Zelinsky, professor of law, 1986 (Texas Law Review, “Efficiency and Income Taxes:
The Rehabilitation of Tax Incentives”, Feb., p. 992-993)
A third manner in which the concept of efficiency has been used in the analysis of tax incentives can be labelled
"technical efficiency." Technical efficiency, unlike universal market efficiency, involves no claims as to the
optimum allocation of the economy's total resources or as to the competitiveness of the entire
economy. Unlike sectoral efficiency, it does not involve the more limited assertion that welfare can be maximized as between
two or more sectors of the economy. Indeed, technical efficiency is not concerned with the allocational effects of tax incentives.
Rather, technical efficiency is a means of viewing tax incentives from the perspective of the
government as purchaser of economic behavior: what is the cheapest way the government can
induce additional production of a particular good or encourage increased consumption of a
specific service? To the extent a tax incentive rewards a producer for production in which he
would have engaged anyway, or reimburses a consumer for consumption he would have
undertaken in any event, the government has acted inefficiently by giving up revenue without
inducing more activity. One commentator, referring to energy-related tax credits, aptly summarized considerations of
technical efficiency [*993] when he observed that "[t]he key question [is] what portion of the energy credit
will be spent subsidizing projects which would have been undertaken anyway and what portion
will go toward inducing additional energy saving investment." Opposition to tax incentives premised on the
technical definition of efficiency does not challenge the substantive propriety of intervention in the domestic economy. Rather,
consideration of technical efficiency reflects procedural concerns; that is, how expensive is intervention?
Gonzaga Debate Institute 2008 5
[Nielson/Ward/Brockaway] Auto’s Aff Updates
Incentives must be economic benefits and penalties for non-compliance
David M. Driesen, Assistant Professor of Law, 1998 (Washington & Lee Law Review, “Is
Emissions Trading an Economic Incentive Program?: Replacing the Command and
Control/Economic Incentive Dichotomy”, p. 325)

An economic incentive program can be defined as any program that provides an economic
benefit for pollution reductions or an economic penalty for pollution. Defining economic
incentives to include both positive and negative incentives includes pollution taxes in the
definition. n155 Does command and control regulation qualify as an economic incentive program
under this definition? Imagine a pure command and control law. The law commands polluters to
perform specific pollution reducing acts, but provides no penalties for non-compliance. This law
would probably motivate little or no pollution reduction, because polluters could violate the
commands without consequence. n156 Command and control regulation only works when an
enforcement mechanism exists.

Discussing the positive characteristics of alternative energy is an incentive

Ahmet Kýlýnc¸ 2008 (“Incentives and disincentives for using renewable energy: Turkish
students’ ideas”, Renew Sustain Energy Rev, p, science direct),

It might reasonably be argued that if a student believes a negative characteristic of electricity

generation from renewable sources to be true, and if they consider that characteristic to be
important, then this combination of beliefs will act as a disincentive to accepting the increased
use of renewable electricity generation. In a complementary manner, if the same holds for a
positive characteristic, this could act as an incentive to increasing the use of renewable electricity
generation. If a student does not belief a particular characteristic to be true, or if they believe it to be true but consider it of
little importance, this characteristic is less likely to influence their attitude to renewable energy sources. Fig. 3 is a scattergraph in
which the mean values to pairs of questionnaire items are plotted; the abscissa represents the degree to which a characteristic is
believed to be true (mean value); the ordinate characteristics are also shown in Fig. 4. represents the degree of importance with
which that characteristics is held (mean value). Thus, those characteristics whose mean values are towards the upper right hand
section of the plot are those that are both believed to be true and held to be important, and so are those that are likely to act as
incentives (for positive characteristics) or disincentives (for negative characteristics). Examining the plot it is apparent that the
belief renewable power stations produce a reliable supply of electricity could act as an is held (mean value). Thus, those
characteristics whose mean values are towards the upper right hand section of the plot are those that are both believed to be true
and held to be important, and so are those that are likely to act as incentives (for positive characteristics) or disincentives (for
negative characteristics).
Gonzaga Debate Institute 2008 6
[Nielson/Ward/Brockaway] Auto’s Aff Updates
Social Incentives are make change – we should not let positive environmental incentives be
dominated by economic
Global Forest Coalition (“Potential Policy Approaches and Positive Incentives to Reduce
Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries”, World Rainforest Movement,
http://www.wrm.org.uy/GFC/material/Incentives_Reduce_Emissions.html)

Positive Social Incentives versus Perverse Financial Incentives

It is of utmost importance that incentive schemes are not narrowed down to include only
relatively expensive and socially inequitable payments for environmental services schemes, but
that more innovative forms of incentives like recognizing land rights and education and
awareness building are also promoted. The discussion on positive incentives tends to be
dominated by economic actors with a strong stake in financial incentives like the forestry sector
and large conservation NGOs, but the most successful policies that succeeded in halting and
reversing deforestation have actually been based on such social incentives. In those countries
where deforestation was halted it was mainly education, public awareness raising and fostering
the traditional value systems of Indigenous Peoples and local communities that formed the key to
successful forest policy. These policies created strong social incentives that translated into
numerous innovative community-based forest governance schemes. These social incentives also
formed the main force behind the increased political will of governments to set and enforce
regulations to address corporate and other free-riders that ignored these community-based forest
conservation schemes. Of course, whether broad public awareness and traditional value-systems
to conserve forests translate into government policy also depends on sound democratic decision-
making. Regretfully, forest policies are still dictated by special interest groups in many countries.
For that reason, safeguarding genuine democracy and public participation rights and regulations
as laid down in treaties like the Aarhus Convention is a pre-condition to ensure forest policy
responds to the values of the majority of the population.
Gonzaga Debate Institute 2008 7
[Nielson/Ward/Brockaway] Auto’s Aff Updates
Substantial Topicality
Substantial: being largely but not wholly that which is specified (Merriam-Webster’s Online
Dictionary, 2008 http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-
bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=substantially)
Gonzaga Debate Institute 2008 8
[Nielson/Ward/Brockaway] Auto’s Aff Updates
Answer To: Fuel Efficiency Solvency Take-Outs
We should not scrap fuel efficiency laws because they don’t work as well as we might like.
Balance what is possible with economics.
Andrew Leonard, 2007 (“The politics of fuel efficiency”, How the world works, March 5,
http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2007/03/05/cafe/index.html)

And yet, as most economists will concede, we do not live in a perfect world, and there are huge
political costs associated with imposing a gasoline tax. Which leads to a conundrum. Even if we
acknowledge that raising CAFE standards hasn't worked as planned, does that mean we should
abandon our efforts to improve CAFE in favor of pushing a gasoline tax solution whose political
viability is seriously questionable? Or should we attempt to do what might be possible.
Aligning the art of the possible with the calculus of economics is never easy. But the fact that
fuel economy efficiency standards aren't working as well as we like shouldn't be a reason to junk
them in favor of an all or nothing strategy that will require American elected politicians to show
true leadership.