The Attack of the Killer Guzzlers

The Presidential Task Force on Regulatory Relief wants American car manufacturers relieved of all energy-efficiency rules on the ground that there is no other way to assure a competitive position for the industry. Not so. Worse, it is a dangerous idea.

In fact, the commission is talking only about the two largest American manufacturers, General Motors and Ford, which have required exemptions from the fuel-efficiency standards for each of the last two model years in order to escape heavy fines. Chrysler has met the standards, and is understandably annoyed--even angry--that the rules first were rewritten and now are to be thrown away.

The easy availability of petroleum products and the lower prices of gasoline are not here to stay. They reflect a temporary situation as production and refining capacity have run ahead of demand. Supplies remain finite, their exhaustion in the decades ahead a certainty. Fluctuations in the price of gasoline are a ridiculous basis for abandoning efforts at conservation. The American automobile industry was unresponsive to the urgent need for fuel efficiency until the federal government established standards. This remains an appropriate function of government, clearly in the public interest. We are not persuaded by C. Boyden Gray, counsel to the head of the task force, Vice President George Bush, who seems to argue that the American way of life requires protection for gas-guzzling station wagons.