Weaker M.P.G. Rules Urged for Cars

Transportation Secretary Jim Burnley called fuel economy standards a “dinosaur that should be extinct” Friday as his agency proposed reducing the standards for cars produced in the next two years.

The Department of Transportation issued a notice of proposed rule-making that would lower the corporate average fuel economy, or CAFE, standards for 1989 and 1990 model-year automobiles. The current congressionally mandated level of 27.5 miles per gallon would be reduced under the new rules to between 26.5 and 27.5.

Burnley said gasoline prices, not fuel standards, primarily are to blame for the increase in fuel economy over the last decade.

But the Center for Auto Safety, a nonprofit automotive consumer group, said it will sue if the government relaxes the fuel economy standards.

“We think the CAFE standard ought to be doubled to, No. 1, save gasoline, and No. 2, to offset the greenhouse effect,” said Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety. “Every additional gallon of gasoline that’s burned results in additional carbon monoxide that’s up in the air’s atmosphere.”