LEXIS-NEXIS® Academic Universe

Search Terms: Corporate Average Fuel Economy, standards

Document 48 of 86.

March 11, 2000, Saturday

SECTION: OPINION;Pg. B-9:2,7; B-15:1

LENGTH: 438 words

HEADLINE: Letters

BODY:
Gas-stingy cars are the way to oil independence and lower pump prices

Rising oil prices have become a hot political issue. OPEC -- the cartel of oil-exporting countries -- is deliberately manipulating the market to drive up petroleum prices, using classic supply-and-demand economics to pad profits.

Unfortunately, America's Big Oil corporations and their allies have responded by renewing their call to drill the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- a response that makes no sense economically or environmentally.

Some 95 percent of Alaska's North Slope is already available for oil and gas exploration and leasing. The coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge represents the last 5 percent that remains off limits to drilling. No one knows if -- or how much -- oil is there. But responsible analyses say that if there is any oil to be found there, it's less than a six-month supply, and it will take 10 years to bring online.

That's hardly going to lower domestic oil prices in either the short or long term.

Drilling the Arctic Refuge would be as foolhardy as damming the Grand Canyon for hydroelectric power or capping Old Faithful for geothermal energy. The Arctic Refuge is America's Serengeti -- home to polar bears, wolves and migratory birds and the calving grounds for the 129,000-member Porcupine River Caribou Herd.

The solution is to break our addiction to oil. America needs a long-term energy strategy for the 21st century, one that relies on conservation and renewable and alternative energy sources. Of course, the biggest single step to saving oil and curbing global warming is to raise the Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards (CAFE) for light trucks and automobiles to 34 mpg and 45 mpg respectively.

Improving the efficiency of the cars, SUVs and other light trucks which guzzle 40 percent of the oil we use, would eliminate our dependence on foreign oil, along with 20 percent of our global-warming pollution. Fuel economy standards for SUVs, pickups and minivans have stagnated for 19 years, and car standards for 14.

And, for the past five years, the congressional leadership has prevented the government from even studying the possibility of updating our nation's fuel economy standards.

Honda's new 65-mpg gasoline-electric hybrid Insight proves automakers can make affordable, efficient and clean vehicles. Unfortunately, Detroit won't budge. By standing up to Congress and the auto industry now to raise fuel economy standards, President Clinton can help put more fuel-efficient cars on the road and break our nation's oil addiction. BRENT LARSEN La Jolla

LOAD-DATE: March 13, 2000

Document 48 of 86.


Search Terms: Corporate Average Fuel Economy, standards
To narrow your search, please enter a word or phrase: