SUVs Taking Toll in Pollution, Fuel Costs, Research Group Says

Lenient miles-per-gallon standards for sport-utility vehicles and minivans cost Americans an extra $13.6 billion at the gas pump last year while causing a significant increase in air pollution, a public interest research group reported Wednesday.

SUVs and other so-called light trucks, which accounted for 45% of all vehicles sold in the United States last year, long have been targeted by environmentalists as primary factors in Americans’ increasing gasoline consumption.

But the new study by U.S. Public Interest Research Group quantifies the nationwide cost of Americans’ love affair with SUVs, which average 20 mpg, and calls for an increase in the mileage standard to 42 mpg by 2010.

If all the nation’s 68 million SUVs, minivans and pickups had met the current 27.5 mpg-standard for cars, oil consumption would have been reduced by 336 million barrels in 1997, or 11% of the country’s imports of crude oil.

Light trucks also emit more carbon dioxide than cars. According to the study, lower fuel standards for light trucks added 187 million more tons of carbon dioxide to the nation’s skies in 1997, about 3% of the total of such emissions. Carbon dioxide is believed to be a major contributor to global warming.

In California, a 26 mpg standard for light trucks would save each SUV driver $214 per year at the gas pump, the report concluded. Statewide, the savings would total $1.8 billion annually, it said.

A bipartisan group of 31 senators, led by California Democrat Dianne Feinstein, recently urged President Clinton and Congress to close the light truck loophole in federal fuel-efficiency standards.

A spokesman for Feinstein said she endorses the research group’s report. While prospects are uncertain for legislation increasing the fuel standards, Feinstein is confident the Senate would support it, said the spokesman, Howard Gantman.

The Coalition for Vehicle Choice, the auto industry’s lobbying arm, was quick to criticize the research group’s report. A spokesman said a 26 mpg standard for light trucks could increase their sticker price by as much as $2,700 per vehicle.

Authors of the report dismissed such claims as fatalistic.