March 13, 2002

Senate Does Bidding of Automotive Industry
Fuel Economy Provision Will Increase Oil Dependence

The Senate's solution to saving gasoline, concocted by Sens. Levin (D-MI) and Bond (R-MO), is to call for no action on long stagnant fuel economy standards for America's fleet of cars and trucks and to add loopholes that will actually increase oil use. The Senate also displayed stunningly convoluted logic by first passing the decision on fuel economy standards to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and then subsequently voting for an amendment that permanently exempts pick-up trucks from the agency's future rulemakings.

"The Senate failed to vote on a reasonable fuel economy compromise from Senators Kerry and McCain and instead regurgitated auto industry scare tactics in passing an amendment that will actually increase fuel use," said Jason Mark, Clean Vehicles Program Director for UCS. "We estimate that the difference between the two amendments, in 2012 oil use, is equal to the total amount of oil the U.S. imports from Iraq -- nearly 0.6 million barrels per day."

"With Enron and energy security in the headlines, it's astounding that Congress has passed an amendment written by industry that increases oil dependence," said UCS Senior Advocate Michelle Robinson.

The Levin-Bond amendment sets no goals for increased fuel economy or oil savings. Instead, they turn the decision-making process over to NHTSA -- an agency that already has the ability to set fuel economy standards. NHTSA has never increased CAFE standards above the levels required by the original 1975 law that created them (with the exception of a modest 0.2 mile per gallon increase for trucks in 1996). In addition, the Levin-Bond amendment adds new rulemaking criteria that will make it harder for NHTSA to increase fuel economy standards in the future.

The Levin-Bond extension of the "dual-fuel vehicle" loophole will increase our gasoline consumption by 7 billion gallons through 2012. Levin-Bond extends a loophole in the CAFE law permitting manufacturers to lower their CAFE requirement by 0.9 to1.2 mpg through selling vehicles that could run on alternative fuels like ethanol, but which never do. This loophole would be phased out by 2008, but Levin-Bond would extend the loophole for four more years. UCS estimates that the current loophole will increase gasoline use by 16 billion gallons through 2012. Levin-Bond would increase the loss by an additional 7 billion gallons through 2012.

Compared to the Kerry-McCain amendment, Levin-Bond will increase our 2012 oil consumption by as much as we imported from Iraq in 2000. By extending the "dual-fuel vehicle" loophole, Levin-Bond would increase oil consumption by about 0.12 million barrels per day in 2012 compared to business as usual. In contrast, by eliminating this loophole altogether and raising fuel economy standards, the Kerry-McCain amendment would save 0.45 million barrels per day in 2012. The total difference between the two amendments is nearly 0.6 million barrels of oil per day, or about the same amount we imported from Iraq in the year 2000.

The Levin-Bond amendment strips auto safety language from the Senate energy bill that could save over 3,000 lives each year. The amendment removes Senate energy bill language requiring NHTSA to set standards that would reduce fatalities in rollover crashes as well as reduce the danger imposed by large vehicles on the road. An improved rollover protection system alone could save 3,000 to 5,000 lives each year (9,000 lives are lost in these accidents each year).

The Miller amendment excludes one-fifth of all vehicles from future CAFE increases. In a surprising addition, Sen. Miller (D-GA) proposed an amendment that freezes fuel economy standards for pick-up trucks at today's levels. In passing this amendment by a vote of 56 to 44, the Senate has excluded pick-ups, which currently account for one-fifth of all vehicle sales, from future fuel economy rulemaking.