Transit Dept. Proposes Relaxed Gas Mileage for 1989-90 Cars

In an announcement welcomed by U.S. auto manufacturers Friday, the Transportation Department proposed lowering gasoline mileage standards for 1989-90 model cars.

Transportation Secretary James H. Burnley IV scheduled a hearing on the proposal for Sept. 14.

Under the suggested new standards, fuel consumption of all cars built by a U.S. manufacturer would be required to average between 26.5 and 27.5 miles per gallon. This would be as much as a mile per gallon below the 27.5-m.p.g. floor mandated by current law.

Legislation requiring fuel standards was enacted in 1975 in the aftermath of the Middle East oil boycott. Burnley denounced the law Friday as “a dinosaur that should be extinct.” He called it a potential incentive for auto makers to transfer production of more profitable large cars to overseas plants.

Advantage for Japanese

No U.S. manufacturer has yet done this, but Japanese car makers are taking advantage of the credits earned by producing energy-efficient small cars to add large cars to their model lines, industry sources say.

Burnley’s announcement was greeted with enthusiasm by spokesmen for General Motors and Ford. GM, which initiated the request for a lowered mileage standard, took similar action in 1986 when it petitioned successfully for a stay of the 27.5-m.p.g. requirement that was supposed to apply to 1987-88 models.

Proposal Termed ‘Disgrace’

But the proposal was protested as a “disgrace” by Martin Lobel, an attorney for several energy conservation groups.

The Transportation Department is “sending the wrong signal at a time when everyone agrees we’re running out of energy,” Lobel said. “The Administration should be talking about lowering gasoline consumption with an excise tax. . . . Instead, it seems ready to pad the pockets of the manufacturers.”