Efficient Cars

Energy Secretary James Watkins seemed to justify the Bush Administration’s refusal to up the 27.5-m.p.g. standard by claiming that Americans don’t like “midget cars on big highways” (Interview, Opinion, Aug. 11). As evidence of this claim he states that there are 51-m.p.g. cars on the market today, but that few people buy them.

Although this statement may be true on its face, it is also misleading, for although there may be such automobiles in existence, they are few in number.

It seems odd that Watkins would essentially blame the American people for this Administration’s failure to raise the m.p.g. standards, when he states, “Americans want a high-performance machine they will be comfortable in out there on the L.A. freeways. To impose on the American people things they find distasteful is not this Administration’s policy.”

Watkins makes the American public sound like nothing more than gluttons, concerned only with their creature comforts. In fact, the public’s rejection of the gas-guzzlers created by American auto makers, in favor of the more economical, fuel-efficient foreign imports, has been a contributing factor in the demise of the American automobile industry.

In April, 1990, Watkins reported “the loudest single message (from the public) was to increase energy efficiency in every sector of energy use.” Perhaps if Secretary Watkins read his own press releases he wouldn’t be so quick to blame the people for this nation’s energy predicament.

DEBORAH BLAIR PORTER, Manhattan Beach