August 23, 2005
Bush Fuel Economy Plan Stuck in Neutral
Administration fails to relieve pain at the pump
WASHINGTON, August 23—The Bush administration today proposed a minuscule change in fuel economy standards that would do virtually nothing to reduce our dependence on oil or to address high fuel costs. The proposed standards would not even compensate for the oil lost through fuel economy loopholes in the president’s recent energy bill. More troubling, the plan creates additional leaks in the nation’s primary oil security program with a new structure based on vehicle size that sets up the potential for automakers to upsize their trucks to take advantage of weaker standards. “Americans should buckle up for continued pain at the pump,” said David Friedman, research director for the Clean Vehicles Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “At best, the administration’s approach does nothing. At worst, it creates new loopholes that increase our oil dependence.” The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) proposed standards would require SUVs, pickups and minivans (so-called light trucks) to increase their fuel economy by roughly 1.8 mpg over four years. These increases are offset by a provision in the recent energy bill that extends a loophole permitting automakers to garner extra credit for vehicles that can run on alternative fuels, but rarely do. In 2010, UCS projects the new standards could reduce a modest 900 million gallons of fuel, while the extended loophole would increase fuel use by one billion gallons, more than offsetting the savings. The administration’s claim of saving 10 billion gallons of gasoline with this proposal amounts to less than one month's worth of gasoline saved over 15 years. UCS analysis indicates that closing existing loopholes—including requiring light trucks to meet today’s car standard of 27.5 mpg within five model years—could reduce 11 billion gallons of gasoline in one year alone, 2015, saving consumers $14 billion. Closing the fuel economy gap between cars and light trucks would cut fuel costs for truck buyers by at least 25 percent, equivalent to reducing gasoline prices to below $2.00 per gallon from today’s record high of more than $2.60.
“The administration has misjudged Detroit’s potential. There is a solid engineering basis for a fuel economy increase that is two to three times greater than what NHTSA proposed today,” said Don MacKenzie, vehicles engineer with the Union of Concerned Scientists. “For less than $800 per vehicle, off-the shelf technologies that pay for themselves in just over a year at today’s gas prices could deliver car-like fuel economy in an SUV.” The fuel economy of the new U.S. car and truck fleet peaked at 26 mpg in 1987, but today is hovering around 24 mpg, a 20-year low, helping to push U.S. oil dependence to an all-time high. As a result, the U.S. now depends on imports for 60 percent of our oil, and we send more than $350,000 to other countries every minute just to keep it flowing. This rulemaking represented an opportunity to address this problem by pushing the auto industry to put existing fuel-saving technology to work throughout the nation’s vehicle fleet, making them more competitive in a future of continued high gas prices. “The administration is squandering an opportunity to put automakers’ ingenuity to work for the driving public,” said Friedman. “As the rule is finalized over the next eight months, we call on NHTSA to respect the technical potential of the industry and triple their planned fuel economy increase instead of condemning drivers to continued high fuel costs.”
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