Drive to Increase SUV Gas Mileage Still an Uphill Climb
Amid last week’s flurry of energy plans, only faint--and experts say futile--calls were made for a measure that arguably would have more impact on curbing consumption than any other: closing the loophole that lets vans and sport-utility vehicles escape higher fuel efficiency standards.
Making that one change “would save an amount of fuel equal to, if not greater than, the projected production from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge,” said Rep. John W. Olver (D-Mass.), sponsor of a House bill that would impose tougher standards on SUVs.
But Olver and others know that their efforts won’t pay off any time soon, and the careful way Washington danced around the subject last week underscores why.
It wasn’t just the White House that punted on the issue, merely calling for further review of the fuel economy standards that auto makers must meet.
Democrats ducked it as well. In their “Principles for Energy Prosperity” report, House Democrats chided the White House for paying lip service to conservation, but called only for fuel efficiency standards “in accordance with requirements and conditions of existing law.”
What’s more, a soon-to-be-released study of the federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards--cited in the White House energy plan and expected to serve as a guide for lawmakers--is increasingly seen as stacked in the auto industry’s favor.
Washington’s approach to the subject is largely a reflection of how much influence the powerful auto industry lobby has in both parties.
As a result, an energy crunch that many thought might create the first opening in years for ratcheting up fuel economy standards instead appears unlikely to alter the status quo.
The White House released its energy plan Thursday, amid severe power shortages in the West and rising fuel costs across the country that have pushed gasoline prices above $2 per gallon in many locations.
Even so, there was new evidence Friday that Americans’ appetite for gas-guzzlers continues to soar. A Transportation Department report showed that the average fuel economy among new cars this year is 24.5 miles per gallon--tying 1999 for the lowest mark since 1980.
The study estimates that cars for the 2001 model year are getting an average 28.7 mpg, but that light trucks are getting just 20.9 mpg. The latter category, which includes minivans and SUVs, accounts for nearly half of the passenger vehicles sold in the United States.
CAFE standards were signed into law by President Ford in 1975. They require auto makers to produce cars with an average fuel economy of 27.5 mpg. But the standard for light trucks is only 20.7 mpg.
The auto industry argues that forcing SUVs and minivans to meet the higher standards would add substantial cost to, and reduce the performance of, a class of vehicles that has exploded in popularity over the last decade.
Conservationists say lawmakers who carved out the exception for light trucks never envisioned a wave of gas-guzzling SUVs and minivans. They say that closing the loophole would reduce U.S. oil consumption by 1 million barrels a day and prevent 187 million tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.
In their dueling energy proposals, both parties addressed fuel economy standards, but mainly by proposing tax incentives for consumers who buy hybrid cars fueled by a combination of gas and electricity.
Surprised by Bush
Many were surprised that President Bush called for the Transportation secretary to review CAFE standards. For the last six years, the Transportation Department wasn’t allowed to even consider the issue, under rules attached to the agency’s annual funding bill by auto industry allies in Congress.
“There are a lot of people who never imagined President Bush would even utter the word ‘CAFE,’ ” said Daniel Becker, director of the Sierra Club’s global warming and energy program.
But the White House report was also careful to spell out its goal of boosting efficiency “without negatively impacting the U.S. automotive industry.”
“To see that language in there lessened any anxiety on our part,” said Greg Martin, a spokesman for General Motors Corp. in the company’s Washington office.
On Capitol Hill, CAFE standards have been debated almost every year since they were introduced, but there has never been enough support for any changes.
The issue is unusual in that it does not necessarily divide members along party lines. This year, for instance, Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) are co-sponsors of a bill that would close the SUV loophole. A similar measure in the House also has bipartisan support.
But in both chambers, there is entrenched opposition from Republicans who oppose federal regulation, Democrats who get much of their support from auto industry unions and almost any member from a state where oil is produced or cars are manufactured.
Spearheading the opposition are two Michigan Democrats, John D. Dingell in the House and Carl Levin in the Senate. In the early 1990s, Levin’s threat to filibuster--a delay tactic requiring 60 votes to overcome--thwarted the last major push to adjust fuel economy standards.
Last year, Feinstein and other proponents of reform gathered enough momentum to force a compromise. There would be no immediate changes, but an independent committee would be established to study the issue.
A report by that panel, sponsored by the Department of Transportation and supervised by the National Academy of Sciences, is due in July. But while advocates of reform initially hoped the report would bolster their cause, they are increasingly pessimistic.
Pro-Industry Bent?
The 13-person panel has no member from the environmental movement, said Becker of the Sierra Club. But it does have two members who previously worked for oil companies and a former Wall Street analyst who covered the auto industry. Its chairman, Paul Portney, is president of a conservative-leaning think tank, Resources for the Future, that gets some of its funding from the auto industry.
Portney rejected the suggestion that the committee has a pro-industry agenda. “Our goal is to do what Congress asked us to do,” he said, “which is to provide the best and most unbiased information we can.”
But even conservationists willing to give the committee the benefit of the doubt say any recommendations to boost CAFE standards will not get far in Congress or with the Bush administration.
“Even if the report says we can lift CAFE standards by 20% without hurting our economy,” Olver said, the White House response will be: “That’s a nice report. We’ll let the industry voluntarily do that.”
