Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company  
The New York Times
March 14, 2002, Thursday, Late Edition - Final
SECTION: Section A; Page 28; Column 1; National Desk 

LENGTH: 1042 words

HEADLINE: Senate Deletes Higher Mileage Standard in Energy Bill

BYLINE:  By DAVID E. ROSENBAUM 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON, March 13

BODY:
The Senate rejected a measure today to stiffen fuel-efficiency requirements for cars and trucks, once again resolving the perennial battle between environmentalists and the automobile industry in favor of the industry.

Instead, the Senate voted to give the Transportation Department two years to study the need for new efficiency standards and how they would affect safety and employment.

Federal gasoline-use standards have not changed since 1985. The average mileage of vehicles sold in the United States, now about 24 miles per gallon, has been falling for years, largely because of the increasing popularity of sport utility vehicles. They use more fuel and are subject to less stringent standards than cars.

A bipartisan team of senators led by John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, and John McCain, Republican of Arizona, argued that toughening the standards would reduce the nation's reliance on foreign oil and protect the environment.

But they were overwhelmed by senators from rural states and states with automobile factories -- backed by an expensive advertising campaign by carmakers and the United Automobile Workers, who argued that Congress had no right to tell Americans what kind of vehicles they should drive.

On the showdown amendment, the Senate voted 62 to 38 to delete specific mileage requirements from the comprehensive energy bill under consideration this month and to turn the matter over for study to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

On the vote, 43 Republicans and 19 Democrats were in favor of the study; 31 Democrats, 6 Republicans and the independent, James M. Jeffords of Vermont, wanted to keep tougher standards in the bill.

The Senate then voted 56 to 44 to exempt pickup trucks from any higher mileage rules the safety administration might recommend.

The issue of requiring cars and trucks to get better gasoline mileage arises almost every year, and the debate always follows a pattern similar to the one on gun control.

Politicians mostly from the East and West coasts declare it ludicrous for Americans to drive gas-guzzling behemoths, just as they say it is for them to have free rein to own firearms.

But big cars and pickup trucks are a way of life in rural America, treasured like shotguns, and politicians from those areas do not want to offend their constituents.

As usual, ferocious lobbying and expensive advertising campaigns were mounted by both sides this year. But just as the gun control lobby is usually no match for the National Rifle Association, so the environmentalists do not have the deep pockets of the carmakers and the unions representing auto workers.

Standing at his front-row seat on the Senate floor before an enlarged photo of a tiny, purple, one-seat European car, Senator Trent Lott, Republican of Mississippi, asserted this morning, "I don't want Americans to have to drive this car."

Americans are interested in fuel efficiency, Mr. Lott, the minority leader, said, but they are even more concerned about automotive safety, comfort and performance.

Senator Christopher S. Bond, Republican of Missouri, said stiffer mileage requirements would make golf carts the dominant means of transportation. "I don't want to tell a mom in my home state that she should not get an S.U.V. because Congress decided that would be a bad choice," Mr. Bond said.

Senator Kerry tried to counter this argument with the assertion that Detroit was capable of making more fuel-efficient cars, vans, trucks and sport utility vehicles without sacrificing safety.

One version of the measure he and Mr. McCain wrote would have raised the corporate average fuel efficiency, or CAFE, standards to 36 miles per gallon for all vehicles by 2016. Proponents say that could save up to 2.5 billion barrels of oil a day, about what is imported from the Middle East.

"No American will be forced to drive any different automobile," he said, pointing to an advertisement for a sport utility vehicle the Ford Motor Company plans to market next year that is much more fuel efficient than current models.

The issue, he said, was whether the United States could "save a significant amount of oil that we import from the Persian Gulf from countries that have the ability to dictate our future and simultaneously contribute to the effort to improve global warming problems as well as health in America."

But those in favor of stronger fuel-economy requirements could not muster the same passion as the opponents.

"American women love S.U.V.'s," said Senator Barbara A. Mikulski, Democrat of Maryland, who lives in Baltimore, where there is a large General Motors plant. "When you are a soccer mom and you are picking up kids or you are car-pooling or have kids with gear, you need large capacity."

Senator Zell Miller, Democrat of Georgia, who sponsored the amendment exempting pickup trucks from higher standards, said he was protecting "hard-working people with calloused hands."

"As the pickup goes, so goes the heart and muscle of our country," Mr. Miller said, and he concluded, "Don't pick on the pickups."

Environmentalists lost on fuel efficiency, but they were likely to prevail later in the month by blocking a proposal to allow oil and gas exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northern Alaska.

Senator Tom Daschle, Democrat of South Dakota, the majority leader, has promised that the Alaska drilling measure will be filibustered, and the proponents apparently do not have the 60 votes necessary to bring the matter to a vote.

This would mean that the two measures that could do the most to make the country less dependent on imported oil -- stronger fuel efficiency and tapping oil in the Alaskan wilderness -- would not be in the Senate's final energy legislation.

What would remain would be more modest measures, including tax breaks to encourage alternative sources of fuel like wind and solar power and the imposition of tougher efficiency standards for air-conditioners and home appliances.

The measure will then go to conference with the House, which passed its energy bill last year. The House also rejected new mileage standards, but it approved oil and gas exploration in the wildlife refuge.
 

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GRAPHIC: Photo: Senators John Kerry, foreground, and John McCain wanted stricter fuel-efficiency standards in the energy bill. (Paul Hosefros/The New York Times)
      

LOAD-DATE: March 14, 2002