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United States and European Union
teaming up on hydrogen fuel cells
June 16,
2003: Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham traveled to Belgium
to announce a new cooperative venture with the European Union
to research hydrogen fuel cells, a potentially clean power
source that could revolutionize future energy use. A possible
sticking point is that the E.U. favors using wind, solar and
other renewable energy sources to develop hydrogen power,
whereas the Bush administration prefers using nuclear and
fossil fuel energy. In fact, some E.U. leaders have warned
that the administration's hydrogen initiative may be a "Trojan
horse" for those dirty and dangerous energy
industries.
"The concern is that the polluter-friendly
Bush administration will hijack the E.U.'s polluter-free
venture," said Dan Lashof, science director of NRDC's Climate
Center.
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EPA reports record drop in fuel
economy
April 30, 2003: The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency reported that the average fuel
economy of 2002-model automobiles fell to a 22-year low of
20.4 miles per gallon. Cars and light trucks -- sport utility
vehicles (SUVs), pickups and minivans -- account for 40
percent of America's oil consumption. Despite vast
technological improvements in vehicles since 1981, fuel
economy has stagnated over that same period -- contributing
heavily to the nation's rising reliance on imported
oil.
Since reaching its peak at 22.1 mpg in 1988, fuel
economy has dropped largely because of the popularity of SUVs.
Fuel economy could drop even more in the coming year despite
EPA's claim of a slight (.04 percent) increase in average
mileage for the 2003 model year. That is because, as
environmentalists noted, the agency changed its normal
reporting procedures by including the industry's early sales
projections in its calculations. Environmentalists seized on
the report to again demand that the government require
automakers to build more fuel-efficient vehicles, a step that
the Bush administration has been unwilling to
take.
"What's more patriotic, making and marketing
atrocious gas guzzlers like the Hummer or using already
available technology to make cars, trucks and SUVs go farther
on a gallon of gas? If Detroit would build it, buyers would
come," said Dan Lashof, science director of NRDC's Climate
Center. "The big automakers have the know-how, but they lack
the political will. Ultimately, our national security demands
that Congress and especially the White House take
action."
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EPA cracks down on diesel
pollution
April 15, 2003: Environmentalists
had reason to cheer for a change, as the Environmental
Protection Agency unveiled a new plan to dramatically reduce
dangerous pollution from off-road diesel-powered, as well as
bulldozers, tractors, portable generators and other equipment
used for construction, agriculture and other industrial uses.
If these stricter emissions standards become law,
diesel-powered vehicles will have to meet the same standards
as cars and trucks for the first time in
decades.
Diesel engines emit roughly two-thirds of
vehicle-related particulate (or soot) emissions nationally,
and almost one-fourth of the country's total emissions of
nitrogen oxides (NOx), the main ingredient in smog. Nonroad
diesel engines -- such as bulldozers, backhoes, cranes,
earthmovers, excavators, tractors, combines, portable
generators and airport equipment -- account for 44 percent of
soot emissions and 12 percent of nitrogen oxide emissions from
mobile sources nationwide, the EPA
estimated.
Scientists and doctors have linked diesel
emissions to many respiratory and cardiovascular health
problems. In fact, off-road diesel engines are second only to
power plants in emissions associated with lung cancer, asthma,
and other health threats. The new rules would force diesel
manufacturers to use new technology to slash cancer-causing
particulate emissions by up to 95 percent and cut NOx
emissions by up to 90 percent. These measures would avoid more
than 9,500 premature deaths and hundreds of thousands of
asthma attacks annually. The engine requirements would be
phased in between 2008 and 2014.
"Diesel engines are
the dirtiest engines, fouling every urban, suburban and rural
community," said Rich Kassel, NRDC senior attorney and founder
of its Dump Dirty Diesels Campaign. "Cleaning them up will
benefit every breathing American, and ultimately will save
thousands of lives every year."
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Bush administration slightly raises
SUV gas mileage requirements
April 01, 2003:
The good news is that fuel economy standards are about to
go up for the first time since the mid- 1990s. The bad news is
that sport utility vehicles (SUVs), light pick-up trucks, and
vans will only have to meet slightly more stringent
fuel-economy standards under a new rule issued by the U.S.
Department of Transportation. While passenger cars are
required to meet a fleet average of 27.5 miles per gallon, the
DOT's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is
raising SUV standards by just 1.5 mpg -- to a 22.2-mpg fleet
average -- by 2007. The Bush administration touted the
increase as proof of its commitment to improving fuel economy.
Critics fired back at the administration for failing to take
meaningful steps to reign in gas guzzlers. They also noted
that the new target reflects only what automakers were
planning to do anyway.
"This incremental, insignificant
increase will do little or nothing to reduce America's
consumption of oil," said Dan Lashof, science director of
NRDC's Climate Center. "The Bush administration is essentially
playing an April Fools joke on behalf of the big auto
companies."
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White House fuel cell plan ignores
today’s oil insecurity
February 06, 2003:
In a speech on "energy independence," President Bush
touted his plan to commit $1.7 billion over five years on
hydrogen fuel cell technology. The money would pay for
research for the so-called FreedomCar project and a hydrogen
fuel initiative -- to explore making the technology work in
automobiles. However, Bush's promise of hydrogen-powered fuel
cell vehicles in the future fails to address the environmental
and national security threats posed by oil dependence
today.
While supportive of fuel cell technology, NRDC
experts exposed the administration's plan as a sham. First,
they pointed out that fuel-cell cars won't be clean unless the
hydrogen they run on is generated by renewable energy, rather
than from fossil fuels. Second, they aren't satisfied with the
timeframe of the administration's plan, which means having to
wait 15 to 20 years to produce cleaner cars and wean the
country off of oil. In the meantime, inefficient, polluting
cars and SUVs will continue to fill America's roadways. Third,
the new White House budget cuts investment in other clean,
renewable technologies. At the same time, the administration
is actively opposing efforts to make today's cars and trucks
cleaner and more fuel-efficient. Finally, the government
already has its hands on $400 million of the $1.2 million
trumpeted by Bush, so his proposal is far less grand than it
appears.
"We're not likely to see hydrogen-powered cars
on the road for decades. But we have an oil security problem
now; we have a global warming problem now; we have an air
pollution problem now," says Dr. Daniel Lashof, science
director of the NRDC Climate Center. "We have the technology
today to fix these problems, but the Bush administration is
standing in the way of policies that would encourage
automakers to start building more efficient cars and SUVs that
can go farther on a gallon of gas."
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White House proposes minor increase
in automobile fuel economy
December 12, 2002:
Reaching for a fig leaf in the growing debate over
America's foreign oil dependence, the Bush administration
today announced a paltry measure that would boost SUV and
light-truck fuel-economy standards by just 1.5 mpg over the
next five years. The mileage requirement for other passenger
cars will remain at 27.5 miles per gallon, the standard set
more than a decade ago.
American automakers have
successfully lobbied against every fuel-economy standard ever
proposed. The administration has helped them fight progress by
opposing real fuel savings offered in the Senate earlier this
year. According to the National Academy of Sciences,
fleet-wide fuel economy could be raised by more than 10 times
the amount proposed by the administration. Because passenger
vehicles use about 40 percent of the 19 million barrels of oil
consumed in the United States each day, the administration's
proposal will perpetuate the nation's dangerous dependence on
foreign oil.
"The president's plan would save just a
few drops from the ocean of Middle East oil," said Dan Lashof,
policy director for NRDC's Climate Center. "We have the
technology to improve safety and fuel economy in cars and
trucks of all sizes. Detroit and the White House are standing
in the way."
FOR MORE
INFORMATION
Press Release: 12/12/02
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Bush administration sides with auto
industry against lower emissions
October 09,
2002: The federal government's long history of support for
California's efforts to fight air pollution has come to an
end, as the Bush administration filed a friend-of-the-court
brief siding with Daimler-Chrysler and General Motors in a
lawsuit seeking to overturn the state's zero-emission vehicle
rule. California is the only state allowed to set its own air
quality standards, some of which are tougher than federal air
pollution laws. Automakers, and now the White House, believe
that the state overstepped its authority in revising its
zero-emissions rule last year to include hybrid-engine
vehicles. Traditionally these hybrid autos have been defined
in terms of fuel economy, which is determined solely by the
federal government. But California officials believe that the
state's move to spur the advancement of cleaner-air
technologies fall within its authority to set pollution
standards under the Clean Air Act.
"The choice is
simple: dirtier air or cleaner cars," said David Doniger,
policy director for NRDC's Climate Center. "California's air
pollution policy decisions usually aren't made in Washington
and they definitely shouldn't be made in Detroit."
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EPA backs off issuing strong
antipollution standards for off-road
vehicles
September 13, 2002: Bad luck
prevailed on Friday the 13th as the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency finally issued new standards for off-road
vehicle emissions and engine regulations. Bowing to White
House and industry pressure, the EPA not only failed to issue
stronger standards to control pollution from these vehicles
but actually weakened the rule it proposed more than a year
ago. The rule does require sweeping reductions in emissions
from hundreds of thousands of off-road vehicles whose
pollution until now had not been regulated. But the final rule
will give snowmobile manufacturers two additional years, until
2012, to achieve emissions reduction targets. It also gives
them more flexibility in how much each pollutant they reduce,
and allows all-terrain vehicles to emit 50 percent more
pollution than under the original proposal. The EPA revised
its original rule after the White House Office of Management
and Budget forced the agency to undertake an extensive
cost-benefit analysis that critics say was biased toward
industry's economic concerns.
Off-road vehicles are
especially dirty. The pollution from a single snowmobile, for
example, can equal that of 100 cars, according to the EPA.
Under the new rules, the snowmobiles that today produce
100,000 cars' worth of pollution will, by 2012, produce only
50,000 cars' worth.
"That's still 50,000 too many and
too long to wait for cleaner air, especially in our national
parks where thousands are still allowed to roam -- thanks to
the Bush administration -- despite the environmental damage
they inflict," said Chuck Clusen, director of NRDC's parks
program.
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EPA seeks cleaner motorbikes,
boats
July 29, 2002: The Bush
administration has proposed new emissions reductions that, if
enacted, would clean up significant amounts of pollution from
motorcycles and boats. The proposal calls for a 50 percent cut
in smog-forming emissions from motorcycles, and an 80 percent
cut in these emissions from recreational boats. The new
standards, which would take effect in 2006 for motorcycles and
2008 for boats, will yield clean air gains equivalent to
taking 9.4 million cars off American highways, according to
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
EPA hasn't
tightened motorcycle emission standards for more than 20
years. As a result, motorcycles are, on average, 20 times more
polluting per mile than a new car. Together, boats and
motorcycles account for 12 percent of hydrocarbon emissions
and 3 percent of carbon monoxide emissions from mobile sources
-- including automobiles, trucks and off-road vehicles. The
boat standards will cover yachts, sport boats, fishing boats,
jet boats and other types of pleasure craft with outboard
motors. While many of the 5 million motorcycles currently on
the road are cleaner than required, their emission reductions
could have been as high as 90 percent without affecting their
highway performance.
"Cutting these sources of
pollution will help Americans avoid a range of respiratory and
other health problems that are triggered by high ozone, carbon
monoxide or soot pollution," said NRDC attorney Rich Kassel.
"But EPA and industry can and should do even more to reduce
the harm caused by bike and boat pollution."
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Bush administration fails to boost
automobile efficiency
April 01, 2002: The
government's deadline for issuing a fuel economy standard for
2004 light trucks came and went, with no change in store for
mileage requirements. The Corporate Average Fuel Economy
(CAFE) standard for pickups, sport utility vehicles and
minivans will remain at 20.7 miles per gallon, the same
standard that has been in effect since 1996. Although Congress
lifted the prohibition against studying fuel economy standards
last December, as expected, the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration failed to take action. The automobile
industry had lobbied the Bush administration not to increase
the mileage standard.
"Is this some kind of April
Fool's joke? The White House keeps insisting that America must
reduce dependence on foreign oil, yet it steadfastly resists
raising fuel economy standards that would save billions of
gallons of gas," said Dan Lashof, science director of NRDC's
Climate Center.
Raising CAFE to 40 miles per gallon
would save 15 times more oil than could be produced by
drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
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Bush administration backs
pollution-free automobile
initiative
January 09, 2002: Energy
Secretary Spencer Abraham announced the Freedom Car
partnership between the federal government and U.S. automakers
to create a fuel-cell-powered vehicle. It will take at least
10 years for fuel-cell vehicles to hit the mass market. The
U.S. will spend an unspecified amount to fund long-term
research on vehicles powered by hydrogen and oxygen that emit
only water vapor.
Even though environmentalists
strongly support the use of this cleaner technology, many are
concerned that the administration is using a publicity stunt
to scuttle Congressional action on stricture fuel-economy
laws.
"The Freedom Car is pointed in the right
direction, but by itself it's going nowhere. Americans will
buy 150 million vehicles during the next decade and Freedom
Car won't do anything to reduce the amount of oil they will
consume," said David Hawkins, director of NRDC's Climate
Center. "We can't afford another research program that just
gives billions of dollars in subsidies to the automobile
industry with no commitment from them to actually produce
advanced vehicles for consumers to buy."
According to
Hawkins, we have the technology to raise fuel economy
standards now for the cars that Americans will buy in the next
decade. Doing that will save billions of barrels of oil while
fuel cell vehicles are being developed.
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Bush will not change fuel efficiency
standards
June 19, 2001: The Bush
administration has no plans to pursue higher fuel efficiency
standards, Vice President Dick Cheney told General Motors
executives in Michigan. Cheney's assurances to the auto
industry are at odds with reports that the administration's
energy plan may tie increased oil drilling to stricter fuel
efficiency standards. "I'm one of those who believes very
strongly in the market, and I think we have to be very careful
not to pass artificial, unfair standards that sound nice,"
Cheney said. Meanwhile, the administration has asked Secretary
of Transportation Norman Mineta to study a forthcoming
National Academy of Sciences report on the safety,
effectiveness and impact of current fuel efficiency standards,
which were put into place in 1975. "If the vice president's
views constitute the administration's final word on the issue,
then the ongoing study is an exercise in futility," said
Roland Hwang, NRDC senior policy analyst. "So much for
President Bush's pledge to base policy decisions on 'sound
science.' " According to Hwang, Americans would be paying
billions less on gas annually if they had more efficient
vehicles.
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