HEADLINE:
DON'T BE FUELED; FEAR-MONGERING OVER MILES-PER-GALLON
BODY: The U.S. Senate turned its back
on energy efficiency last week when it voted 62-38 against raising fuel standards for cars, sport utility vehicles and pickup
trucks.
The measure defeated a bid to force automakers
to improve fuel economy by 50 percent over 13 years and punted the issue to the
Bush administration, which will get two years to develop its own rules.
Congress hasn't raised fuel standards in 27 years, and its
March 13 vote was an indefensible denial of the need to cut the gas-guzzling
appetites of pickups and SUVs. Because those vehicles are subject to less
stringent standards, the nation's average fuel economy has fallen from a peak of
26 miles per gallon in 1988 to about 24 mpg today, the lowest in two decades.
If the United States could raise mileage standards by
6 percent a year over a decade, according to the Sierra Club, it could stop
importing oil from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates,
plus forgo the output estimated from drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge.
Unfortunately, Pennsylvania Republican Sens.
Rick Santorum and Arlen Specter were among those who voted against the higher
standards. Sen. Santorum also wants to exempt SUVs permanently from the
"corporate average fuel economy," or CAFE, rules and is among those who believe
the auto industry, if forced to improve miles per gallon, will have no choice
but to shortchange safety.
That's an echo of the
arguments used in the 1970s to fight the original fuel standards, a sort of
"cars don't kill people -- fuel-efficient cars kill people" argument. The
National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences said last year big
gains in fuel efficiency were possible without reducing vehicle size or
weight.
With front and side airbags, shoulder harnesses
and anti-lock brakes, auto designers have made great strides in recent years to
enhance motorist safety. Some of the innovations, no doubt, were even due to the
fact that they no longer had heavy, hulking cars with tailfins and armor to hide
behind. But even those improvements are no match for factors like speeding,
alcohol, foul weather and poor road conditions.
All
drivers take their chances when setting out on the road, and there's only so
much government can do to provide a bubble of safety. But senators should not
stoop to fear-mongering to let an industry produce vehicles that are less
efficient than the public deserves.
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