WASHINGTON - July 29 - Today, the Sierra Club unveiled its updated www.Hummerdinger.com website which uses humor and sarcasm to criticize the Bush administration's $100,000 SUV tax loophole, commonly referred to as the 'Hummer Tax Loophole.' The website's launch comes on the heels of General Motors' recent announcement of their latest Hummer brand model, the H3. While GM is touting the H3 as a 'smaller', more 'fuel efficient' Hummer, the H3 still weighs in well above the threshold of 6,000 pounds, qualifying it for an enormous $100,000 tax deduction. The H3 joins a rogue's gallery of gas-guzzling behemoths that qualify for this tax loophole.

"Why is the Bush administration giving a $100,000 tax deduction to the biggest gas guzzlers on the road, and letting the $1,500 tax deduction for fuel-efficient hybrid cars to phase out," said Brendan Bell, a global warming and energy expert with the Sierra Club's Global Warming program. "The Bush administration is telling car-buyers that if they choose the vehicles that add the most to the country's oil dependence, taxpayers will pick up the tab."

The satirical website features new stories, such as, "President Bush Signs Leave No Hummer Behind Bill," as well as offering traffic and weather reports fit for a Hummer-sized world. For instance, the traffic report parodies Hummer's 'Jack' advertisement, by reporting that three lanes of freeway traffic are being blocked by Jack's enormous Hummer in his attempt to win the soapbox derby. The website also features parody ads advertising a Dick Cheney approved Halliburton Hummer H2 oil rig, and web videos mimicking Hummer ads. The website also features the TV ad, 'Out of Gas,' which was created by the Detroit Project.

Check it out at http://www.hummerdinger.com

As part of its 2003 economic stimulus package, the Bush administration quadrupled an existing tax deduction that now allows small businesses and the self-employed to deduct up to $100,000 off the cost of gas-guzzling SUVs and trucks weighing over 6,000 pounds. This tax deduction was originally intended to help small businesses purchase work trucks and delivery vehicles. However, the rise of large luxury SUVs, like the Hummer, has pushed these passenger vehicles above the 6,000 pound weight limit. While the Bush administration has opposed efforts to close the Hummer Tax Loophole, they are allowing the meager $1,500 tax deduction for fuel efficient hybrid vehicles to phase out.

"With gas prices going through the roof and our oil dependence getting worse, the Bush administration should be helping Americans get behind the wheel of hybrid vehicles and other fuel efficient vehicles," continued Bell. "Instead, they are actually encouraging people to buy the most polluting gas-guzzlers on the road."

The technology exists today to make all cars, trucks, and SUVs go farther on a gallon of gas, while maintaining the safety, affordability, and other features consumers demand. These innovative technologies range from hybrid-electric engines to other conventional gas-saving technologies like more efficient engines, smarter transmissions, and sleeker aerodynamics.

"Making all new vehicles average 40 miles per gallon within ten years is the biggest single step we can take to curb global warming, cut America's oil dependence, and save consumers' money at the gas pump," said Bell.

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