Editorial: Big Three, Congress and gas

Saturday, May 20, 2006 | 7:29 a.m.

Top executives from the Big Three U.S. automakers lobbied Congress this week for help in transitioning the nation to broader use of ethanol and other alternative fuels. The officials from Ford, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler met with top lawmakers, including Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to request federal incentives for gas stations that offer the corn-based fuel at their pumps. Fewer than 700 of the nation's 165,000 stations currently offer ethanol.

It's encouraging to see lawmakers and the auto industry talking, and we hope they have a real commitment to finding innovative ways to increase alternative fuel use. But Reid also noted, correctly, that Congress and the Big Three don't always get along.

Democrats especially have been frustrated with the industry's long-standing fight against their efforts to raise fuel economy standards, which currently require that automakers produce passenger cars that average 27.5 miles per gallon. We have endorsed a proposal by Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, to raise that to 37.5 mpg by 2016.

President Bush has requested that Congress give him full authority to raise fuel economy standards for passenger cars. We believe Bush, who would be more prone to siding with the auto industry than Congress, would not raise the standards high enough.

Lawmakers already have handed the president the authority to raise standards for light trucks and vans. It would be a mistake for Congress to cede any more power. Lawmakers should retain their authority and set strict new standards for passenger cars.