13 replies to this topic

[johngeorge]

Senate Panel Approves
Bill Requiring Cars
To Get 35 MPG by '20By ROBERT GUY MATTHEWS in Washington and JEFFREY BALL in Dallas
May 9, 2007After failing to mandate more-stringent fuel-economy standards for two decades, Congress took a key step toward requiring manufacturers to make higher-mileage cars and trucks.The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation passed a bipartisan bill that would raise the fuel standard for passenger vehicles to an average 35 miles per gallon by 2020 from the current 25 miles per gallon.The bill would also require auto makers to improve mileage for medium- and heavy-duty trucks by 4% each year. This would be the first time such a mileage mandate is imposed on trucks exceeding 10,000 pounds."We are saying at long last: There needs to be more fuel-efficient cars on the road," said Sen. Byron L. Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat.

A few senators raised concerns about the bill, and there are likely to be amendments to the legislation as it heads to the Senate floor for a full vote, expected in June. But the main thrust of the bill -- to raise fuel-economy standards -- has broad support in the chamber.

The House remains more problematic. It is working on its own standards for Corporate Average Fuel Economy, also known as CAFE. But Rep. John Dingell of Michigan, an ally of U.S. auto makers and chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, so far has failed to craft a compromise that can pass through his committee, and it remains unclear how soon a bill would make it to the House floor for debate.

The auto industry has opposed a CAFE standard for years, with some continuing to fight it and others trying to pre-empt it by pushing other environmentally friendly measures.

Detroit's Big Three auto makers -- and their unionized workers -- have warned that stringent fuel-economy regulations would add a significant cost burden at a time when they are struggling to reverse losses in their North American operations. The domestic car makers are closing plants and shedding tens of thousands of blue-collar workers to reduce costs but still face a depressed housing market and skyrocketing gasoline prices, which weigh on sales of their more profitable pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles.

Meanwhile, Ed Cohen, a lobbyist for Honda Motor Co., said that the Senate bill would be tough on Honda because of the Japanese company's small fleet size, but that the improved fuel goals are achievable.

"It is about how much pain it will inflict on manufacturers and consumers," he said.

The Senate bill could hit some other speed bumps, too. Some lawmakers want to make the bill tougher, which could threaten the majority support that the current version enjoys.

Sen. John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat and Commerce Committee member, said he aims to add language that would require auto makers to meet midpoint goals, such as achieving an average of 31.5 miles per gallon for their fleets by 2015.

Currently, the bill would allow the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration to modify the standards if they prove economically unfeasible for auto makers.

"The whole thing is a total joke," said Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen, a public-interest group that supports tougher standards governing emissions linked to climate change. "Global warming will take over the world before this has any impact."

Cars and trucks generate about one-fifth of U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide, the main global-warming gas, which is produced when fossil fuel such as gasoline is burned. But recent studies suggest that utilities, not auto makers, would likely be the ones required to make the most-significant emissions cuts. That's because curbing CO2 emissions from coal-fired plants is cheaper and logically easier than curbing emissions from cars and trucks.

Other groups want less-stringent rules. Allen Schaeffer, executive director of Diesel Technology Forum, a Frederick, Md., group that represents light- and heavy-duty engine makers, said it would be wrong for truck fuel-economy to be legislated similarly to that of passenger vehicles.

"Trucks do work; it is not like it is one person jumping in their car to go into the office," he said.

The auto industry has in recent months signaled its support for a different environmental policy: an economywide mandatory cap on emissions that cause global warming.

Yesterday, General Motors Corp. formalized its support for an emissions cap by becoming the first auto maker to join a group of companies that have called explicitly for such a policy. The group, U.S. Climate Action Partnership, or USCAP, was launched in January and now includes 21 companies, including utilities, oil producers and manufacturers, and several environmental groups.

With Democrats now controlling Congress and pushing for legislation to curb emissions that contribute to global warming, many companies see a cap as inevitable. Instead of trying to block it, they prefer to help shape the new rules.

Both the emissions-cap and fuel-economy debates are likely to bog down in disputes over details, especially those that determine which companies get hit hardest. One question is how any policy would affect the Big Three auto makers, whose vehicles tend to be thirstier relative to those made by their Japanese and European competitors.

Environmental groups hailed GM's move to join the group.

"You now have really covered the spectrum [of] major businesses that have a stake in this issue signing on to this very-significant call for action," said John DeCicco, a senior fellow for environmental strategies for Environmental Defense, an environmental group that helped to form USCAP.

[dasein]

posturing. Europe has 80 mpg now. by 2020 we'll all be dead. Iacocca just put out a book called (paraphrase) Where have all the Leaders Gone? good question for anyone that remembers when this country was great, its too depressing, klh

[johngeorge]

posturing.

Europe has 80 mpg now.

by 2020 we'll all be dead.

Iacocca just put out a book called (paraphrase) Where have all the Leaders Gone?

good question

for anyone that remembers when this country was great, its too depressing,
klh

I'm afraid all the leaders have been dead for many years.

[Rogerdodger]

Why stop at 35mpg and why wait till 2020? Anyway, This is bordering on the political...

Edited by Rogerdodger, 08 May 2007 - 09:57 PM.

[Caduceus]

Why stop at 35mpg and why wait till 2020?

Anyway, This is bordering on the political...

I agree, it does border on the political.

Also agree that we shouldn't stop at 35mpg as a goal. (legislating it is debatable).

I get about 35mpg cruising at 80mph in my Turbo Direct Injection Biodiesel (Jetta). The performance isn't bad either:
http://www.biodiesel...Performance.PDF

[Sentient Being]

It's all bogus. They day we start building nuclear power plants and start shutting down the oil and coal plants is the day we finally decided to do something. As long as we are talking about punishing people with high taxes and taking down our economy to save the planet we are not serious.

[linrom1]

It's all bogus. They day we start building nuclear power plants and start shutting down the oil and coal plants is the day we finally decided to do something. As long as we are talking about punishing people with high taxes and taking down our economy to save the planet we are not serious.

This is all bogus because there won't any auto manufacturing left in the USA by 2020. Foreign auto manufacturers will exceed this ridiculously low standard of 35 mpg by a factor of 2.

[bigtrader]

Bogus? shesh

[OEXCHAOS]

Is it bogus or political onanism? Does it matter? The first recession we get, folks will be buying fuel efficient cars again. In droves. A lot of the hogs will be off the road. Meanwhile, people like us will be driving the same well tuned vehicles, getting 30 on the highway, and often going days without moving the car. A lot of folks could live a similar lifestyle. It's lower stress and very efficient. I'll call it the Urban Epicure lifestyle. We largely only drive to the market and the wine store (and visit family and friends). Most errands and recreation are within a few blocks and an easy walk. M

[PorkLoin]

Sentient Being: The day we start building nuclear power plants and start shutting down the oil and coal plants is the day we finally decided to do something.

Right on!

Mark: We largely only drive to the market and the wine store

I wonder if they let rickshaws park at the market? I usually take a shortcut to the wine store along the railroad right of way, and an added bonus is that you can walk back on the tracks with a couple bottles in paper bags. Now that's living.

Doug (watch out for spikes sticking up)