Editorial: Fuel standard hike is at a crossroads

Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2002 | 8:58 a.m.

It's been tough-going for members of Congress who have sought to increase the fuel efficiency of cars and trucks, a federal standard that hasn't changed since the 1980s. In his two terms as a Democratic U.S. senator, a span that ended in 1998, Richard Bryan sought to improve the corporate average fuel economy standard (CAFE), but the auto industry and Republicans were able to block his legislation.

Current standards mandate that a manufacturer's annual fleet of passenger cars must average 27.5 miles per gallon, while the fleet of minivans, pickups and sport utility vehicles must average 20.7 miles per gallon. But in light of the renewed calls for independence from foreign oil that followed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Democratic Sens. Fritz Hollings of South Carolina and John Kerry of Massachusetts are picking up where Bryan left off. Hollings and Kerry have introduced legislation that seeks to narrow the differences between cars and light trucks, combining the two standards so that there would be a total fleet average of 35 miles per gallon by 2013, an increase phased in over time. Normally you would expect the Hollings-Kerry bill to meet the same dismal fate as Bryan's legislation, but last week a key Republican came out in favor of significantl y boosting fuel efficiency, a senator who could create the legislative traction necessary to pass an improved CAFE standard! . Sen. John McCain of Arizona introduced legislation that would require the CAFE standard to be increased to a combined 36 miles per gallon by 2016.

The Bush administration's answer to lessening dependence on foreign oil is to drill on environmentally sensitive lands, including in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge located in Alaska. But relying on ANWR not only would harm the environment, but it also would tap a finite source, which has been estimated to contain a maximum of 3.2 billion barrels of oil. The Sierra Club estimates the Hollings-Kerry plan would save 1 million barrels a day by 2012; currently autos in the United States use 8 million barrels a day. That's a savings that we can replenish year after year and not have to worry that it will run out.