Statement of Senators Dianne Feinstein on New Report Urging an Increase in Fuel Efficiency

Statement of Senator Dianne Feinstein on New Report Urging an Increase in Fuel Efficiency

- Feinstein Amendment Would Close the 'SUV Loophole' by 2011-
June 11, 2003

Washington, DC - In light of a new report urging an increase in fuel economy standards released by Public Citizen, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today called on her Senate colleagues to pass an amendment to the Energy Bill that she has sponsored with Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) to equalize fuel efficiency standards for Sport Utility Vehicles and all other light duty trucks with that of passenger cars.

In December 2002, the Bush Administration announced an initiative to increase corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards to 22.2 miles per gallon by 2007 - a modest increase of 1.5 gallons over three years. The Feinstein/Snowe amendment would pick up where the Administration leaves off and gradually increase the fuel efficiency standards for SUVs and light duty trucks over the next 8 years.

By 2008, SUVs and light duty vehicles would have to average 23.5 miles per gallon;
By 2009, SUVs and light duty vehicles would have to average 24.8 miles per gallon;
By 2010, SUVs and light duty vehicles would have to average 26.1 miles per gallon;
By 2011, SUVs and light duty vehicles would have to average 27.5 miles per gallon.

The amendment would also require that the average fuel economy of the new vehicles purchased by the federal government be increased by 3 miles per gallon by 2007 and 6 miles per gallon by 2010. In addition, the bill would also increase the weight range within which vehicles are bound by CAFE standards, making it harder for automotive manufacturers to build SUVs too big to be regulated by CAFE standards.

The following is the text of Senator Feinstein's statement:

"Public Citizen today released a report confirming what we have long believed - that Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) can be made more fuel efficient without sacrificing an ounce of safety. The fuel economy of our fleet of passenger vehicles is now at its lowest level in two decades, and this is largely a result of the SUV Loophole, which allows SUVs and light trucks to be less fuel efficient - by almost 6 miles per gallon - than passenger cars. It is time to close this loophole.

I have introduced legislation with Senator Olympia Snowe that would require SUVs and light duty trucks meet the same fuel efficiency standards as passenger cars by 2011. I hope that my Senate colleagues will approve this legislation as an amendment to the Energy Bill.

Simply put, this legislation is the single most important step the United States can take to limit dependence on foreign oil and better protect our environment. If implemented, this amendment would:

Save the U.S. 1 million barrels of oil a day;
Reduce our nation's dependence on foreign oil imports by 10 percent;
Prevent about 240 million tons of carbon dioxide -- the number one greenhouse gas and biggest single cause of global warming -- from entering the atmosphere each year; and
Save SUV and light duty truck owners hundreds of dollars each year in gasoline costs.

This amendment is carefully crafted. It is based on good science. And it contains increases which are technologically feasible. It would be a major mistake for the Senate to approve an Energy Bill without doing anything to improve fuel efficiency.

CAFÉ standards were first established in 1975. At that time, light trucks made up only a small percentage of the vehicles on the road -- they were used mostly for agriculture and commerce, not as passenger cars. Today, our roads look much different - SUVs and light duty trucks comprise more than half of the new car sales in the United States.

As a result, the overall fuel economy of our nation's fleet is the lowest it has been in two decades - largely because fuel economy standards for SUVs and light trucks are so much lower than they are for other passenger vehicles. The amendment we are offering would change that - SUVs and other light duty trucks would have to meet the same fuel economy requirements by 2011 that passenger cars meet today. The Bush Administration has already increased fuel economy standards to 22.2 miles per gallon by 2007 - a modest increase of 1.5 gallons over three years. This is a welcome step, but we can - and must - do more.

The National Academy of Sciences released a report last year which indicated that fuel economy can be significantly increased if automakers utilize existing technologies and include them in new models of SUVs and light trucks. We have the technology to close the SUV Loophole. But we must find the will. The amendment Senator Snowe and I are offering picks up where the Bush Administration's proposal leaves off and raises fuel economy of SUVs to 27.5 miles per gallon by 2011.

As the Public Citizen report released today points out, automakers can increase the fuel economy of SUVs without compromising safety. In fact, improved fuel economy and increased safety can go hand in hand. After studying real-world crash data, safety experts Marc Ross and Tom Wenzel from the University of Michigan concluded that a vehicle's safety is more closely correlated with the quality of design than with weight.

In fact, Ross and Wenzel found that a Chevy Blazer is far more dangerous to its passengers than is a Ford Taurus, and that it is weight disparities on the road that cause crash fatalities. Therefore, any convergence in vehicle weights from better fuel economy standards could actually improve safety. I have been involved in this issue for some time now. Initially, opponents of closing the SUV loophole blocked legislation introduced by Senator Richard Bryan and me on the grounds that the issue was better handled administratively - but the National Highway Transportation Safety Agency refused to take action.

Later, when that agency would have increased fuel economy standards, these same opponents inserted language in the Transportation appropriations bill that prevented the agency from taking action.

Then, in the 106^th Congress, Senators Gorton, Bryan, Levin, Abraham, Ashcroft, and I agreed to have the National Academy of Sciences conduct a study on the impact of raising Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) standards.

Yet, even after the report came back and said that closing the loophole was feasible, no action has been taken. Let's do the right thing once and for all - Let's close the SUV loophole and make SUVs and light trucks meet the same standards as passenger cars."

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