U.S. Senate Agrees to Study Fuel Economy Standards
June 15, 2000

Washington, DC – During debate over the FY 2001 Senate Transportation Appropriations legislation, a bipartisan group of Senators today agreed on a provision to conduct a study of the impact of Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) standards on safety, U.S. employment, and other factors deemed scientifically relevant.

The following is Senator Dianne Feinstein’s statement on the agreement:

“Since 1995, a provision of the Transportation Appropriations Bill has prevented the Department of Transportation from looking at the issue of the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) Standards. These fuel efficiency standards govern the average number of miles per gallon of gasoline for U.S. automobiles, sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and light trucks.

The problem is exacerbated by an SUV loophole that allows these vehicles and light duty trucks to achieve lower fuel efficiency than other passenger vehicles. As a result, nothing has been accomplished in this time and overall fuel efficiency is at its lowest level since 1980.

Today, Senators Gorton, Bryan, Levin, Abraham, Ashcroft and I agreed to include a provision in the FY 2001 Transportation Appropriations bill to conduct a study on how CAFE standards would affect safety, U.S. employment, and other factors deemed scientifically relevant.

I believe this a major step forward in at least examining the issue whereby the results of the study will give Congress the opportunity to decide appropriate fuel efficiency levels for automobiles, light duty trucks and SUVs"