The Civil Society Institute is an environmental group urging eco-friendly conditions to any federal loans or bailout. "Just because Detroit is pleading once again for another bailout is no reason for Washington to give these companies a 'free ride'," says Pam Solo, the institute's founder and president. "If taxpayers are going to be put at risk by guaranteeing new loans, then any such new help should be conditioned on the U.S. car companies ending their campaign to frustrate state-level efforts to clean up car and light-truck emissions that cause global warming."

"Further, Congress should insist that every penny of the $25 billion in new loan guarantees that Detroit is seeking be targeted to building the cars of tomorrow, not the gas-guzzling dinosaurs of yesterday," Solo says. "Business as usual for Detroit is a bad investment without the incentives for Detroit to do what it seems it cannot do for itself."