Fuel economy back on US agenda
A bipartisan bill, which cleared a Senate committee Tuesday, seeks to boost average car mileage by about 10 miles per gallon from 2011 to 2020.
from the May 10, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
"We are looking forward to doing our part to address these issues" of fuel economy, says Wade Newton of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers in Washington. "We really want to be able to support a bill like that [in the Senate], but we do feel that's too ambitious." The alliance includes domestic automakers, as well as others including Toyota and Volkswagen.
Congress has discarded scads of fuel-economy bills over the years. This time could be different, some observers say.
"I would argue this is the best chance we've had for a real impact on fuel economy in 30 years," says David Friedman of the
Union of Concerned Scientists.
"I'm very optimistic," adds David Doniger, policy director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's climate center. "The
move in the Senate is a step in the right direction. The likelihood of something finally happening has gone up."
A key player is Rep. John Dingell (D) of Michigan, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, who has blocked many
such bills in the past.
"We've had bills about CAFE standards before," says Ann Korin, chairwoman of the Set America Free Coalition, an energy-independence
group in Washington, D.C. "The question is: Has anyone changed Mr. Dingle's mind? If not, it's just talk."
Critics say the bill is not ambitious enough, citing in particular provisions that give automakers a way out of the higher standard. A battle over the tradeoffs between financial costs and energy or environmental benefits will define the debate in Congress in the weeks ahead.
Since 1990, Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, known as CAFE standards, have stood at 27.5 miles per gallon for cars sold in the US. That means each automaker must achieve that fleetwide average or pay a fine on every car it sells. A more recent law covers fuel economy for light trucks, to push their average from about 22 m.p.g. today to 24 m.p.g. by 2011.
The bill would wrap passenger vehicles together, targeting a fleetwide average for both cars and light trucks of 35 m.p.g. by 2020, up from about 25 m.p.g. today.
Some outside experts say the CAFE system is flawed, but many also say it has a track record of achieving results.
With loopholes plugged, the 10-in-10 measure could slash oil use by about 1.3 million barrels per day by 2020 and about 2.5 mbd in 2030, compared with a business-as-usual scenario, estimates Mr. Friedman. "That's not an insignificant cut," he says, noting that oil imports from Saudi Arabia were about 1.5 mbd last year.
But reducing reliance on oil overall and on oil imports in particular will not be attained by a single fuel-economy step, says Ms. Korin. While the 10-in-10 bill contemplates a 40 percent increase in CAFE standards by 2019, even a bigger boost would leave the US heavily dependent on foreign oil, her group estimates.
RSS feed
