Copyright 2002 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc. St.
Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri)
February 15, 2002 Friday Five Star Lift
Edition
SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. C16
LENGTH: 346 words
HEADLINE:
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR : NATION NEEDS MORE FUEL-EFFICIENT CARS
BODY: In response to James Glassman's Feb. 13
commentary, "It's my right to drive an SUV": Glassman's arguments against
raising fuel economy standards are misleading at best and blatantly untrue at
worst.
He says that higher corporate average fuel
economy standards would limit personal freedom to purchase an SUV, when the
truth is that they would increase the average fuel economy of the entire fleet,
not every individual vehicle.
Automakers could use
existing technologies like variable valve timing and strong, lightweight
materials to vastly improve efficiency in all models, including SUVs, and
consumers wouldn't even notice. We have the technology to make vehicles run far
more efficiently under the hood without changing the body at all.
CAFE standards could raise sticker
prices, but the cost would be more than offset by savings at the pump over the
life of a vehicle. Moreover, these standards would create more jobs in the auto
industry as new technologies are developed and new products are rolled out.
We can't let U.S. automakers fall behind the technology
curve as foreign companies aggressively incorporate new components into their
products, capturing most of the market for advanced-technology vehicles. The two
Japanese hybrid cars on the market in America both have six-month waiting lists
with very little advertising.
Automakers have always
resisted regulation. They viciously fought against seat-belt legislation, too,
but no one makes a fuss about these basic devices today. The same will go for
commonsense improvements in fuel efficiency. In fact, without CAFE
standards the Big Three will likely find themselves in a case of too little
too late, beaten by more forward-thinking companies.
Factor in the many environmental benefits of burning fewer
fossil-fuels, combined with the national security imperative to reduce
dependence on oil from the Middle East, and CAFE standards
seem less like Glassman's "cruel irony" and more like an indispensable step
toward a responsible energy plan for the 21st century.
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