The Low Cost of Lowering Auto Emissions
New York Times
By Dianne Feinstein and Olympia Snowe
October 1, 2001

WASHINGTON -- Requiring sport utility vehicles and other light trucks to go farther on a gallon of gas is the most effective step

America could take both to limit dependence on foreign oil and to slow global warming, yet for years Congress has not taken it. The report issued yesterday by the National Academy of Sciences, asserting that this improvement is not only environmentally critical but technically feasible, gives solid support to those of us in Congress who have long wanted to set the same fuel efficiency standards for S.U.V.'s and light trucks that we now set for cars.

Even before the report, the tide seemed to be turning on this issue. In recent weeks, automakers said they wouldn't actively fight an effort to raise fuel efficiency standards; Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott said he would consider supporting the idea; and the Bush administration signaled approval, asking for authority to act on this issue. Polls show that Americans support improved fuel efficiency by wide margins.

The academy's report makes clear that increasing fuel economy could decrease the buildup of greenhouse gases without making American workers less competitive. And it suggests that we could actually improve highway safety by raising the fuel economy of the S.U.V.'s and light trucks. We believe that if S.U.V.'s were made lighter, they would become less dangerous to car passengers in collisions.

We propose phasing in the higher standards, reaching 27.5 miles per gallon _ the current standard for cars _ over six years. When fully phased in, the improvements would save one million barrels of oil per day, reduce annual oil imports by 10 percent and prevent 240 million tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere each year.

Today, the average fuel economy of our nation's vehicles, at 24 miles a gallon, is the lowest it has been in 21 years. Efficiency dropped because when federal fuel economy standards were first instituted in 1975, light- duty trucks, then used mainly for towing and hauling, were exempted from the standards for cars. Back then, these vehicles were relatively few, but with both pickups and S.U.V.'s, which are a form of light truck, being used today in place of cars, roughly half of all new vehicles sold in the United States are now light trucks. They average 6.8 fewer miles to the gallon than do cars.

Automakers recently said they would increase the fuel economy of these trucks and S.U.V.'s by 25 percent by 2005. Yet in Europe they have pledged to go further, reducing fuel use by 25 percent for all vehicles, including cars. If automakers can produce greater fuel efficiency across the Atlantic, why can't they do it here?

The Union of Concerned Scientists said last month that with existing technology, automakers could produce vehicles averaging 40 miles a gallon by 2012 without sacrificing performance or safety. While that's an admirable goal, our proposal is more realistic over the next few years.

Consumers have an obvious interest in this legislation. If the standards we recommend are adopted, the average S.U.V. owner, driving the average number of miles, will save over $300 a year when gasoline is $1.50 a gallon and $400 a year if the price hits $2.

With 4 percent of the world's population, the United States today uses 25 percent of the planet's energy. Both to help ourselves and to take a leadership role on reducing greenhouse gases, we should follow up on the academy's report by closing the S.U.V. loophole now.

Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, and Olympia Snowe, Republican of Maine, are members of the United States Senate.