Editorial: Mileage standard outdated

Thursday, May 11, 2006 | 7:24 a.m.

An idea whose time has come - actually, it is long overdue - was proposed this week by Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine. They want passenger cars on American roads to be averaging 37.5 miles a gallon by 2016. Decades have elapsed since the standard was set at 27.5 miles per gallon, and it is time for a major improvement.

The federal government, under the 1970 Clean Air Act, has the authority to set fuel-efficiency standards for imported cars and for the American automobile industry. Congress controlled the whole program until five years ago, when it ceded to the president the authority to set standards for light trucks and vans.

In March President Bush ordered those vehicles to be 11 percent more efficient by 2011, a standard criticized by many states as well as by environmentalists for being too soft on the industry. The Feinstein-Snowe proposal grants the industry an extra five years, but would require a 36 percent increase in efficiency.

Congress has continually refused to exercise its authority over fuel-efficiency standards, and we see what that has wrought. With world competition for diminishing supplies of oil at a fever pitch, even regular gasoline is now priced well above $3 a gallon in most parts of the country, including Southern Nevada. And many people are stuck with cars that fall well short of meeting the average of 27.5 mpg.

The result is an increased dependence on foreign oil to meet the demands of consumers, and a financial hardship for consumers as they contend with the rising prices.

Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta would rather conduct a yearlong fact-finding study before considering a new fuel-efficiency standard. In our view, the facts are in - we need to move now on a new standard, and we believe the one proposed by the two senators is reasonable.