Barton on Car Fuel Economy Standards
“The current, outdated system hampers the potential
for energy savings, raises vehicle safety concerns, and fails to treat
competitive players fairly”
WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, chairman of the House
Energy and Commerce Committee, made the following statement today during the
full committee hearing entitled, “National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration to Set Passenger Car Fuel Economy Standards.”
“This committee print is the first of many steps that this committee
intends to take to foster the goal of minimizing dependence of foreign sources
of energy and, over time, make it possible to have energy independence in the
United States of America.
“In the wake of the 1973-74 Arab oil embargo, Congress passed the Energy
Policy Conservation Act, which established corporate average fuel efficiency,
known as CAFE, standards for passenger cars and light trucks sold in the United
States.
“Under the CAFE system, we’ve come a long way with our light truck fleet.
The Department of Transportation took a major step forward in March, announcing
a reformed CAFE program for light trucks. This new program will save the United
States nearly 11 billion gallons of fuel over the lifetime of the vehicles sold
between 2008 and 2011.
“We can not say the same for passenger cars. In 1975, Congress set a goal
of doubling fuel economy for passenger cars by 1985 to 27.5 miles per gallon.
According to my math, that was 31 years ago. And today, the fuel economy mandate
for passenger cars is unchanged. What makes this static fuel economy number even
more striking is under the new light truck rule, there are now SUVs required to
meet stricter CAFE standards than passenger cars. It really does appear that the
time has come to at least allow for the possibility of a change in the passenger
car standard.
“Today’s committee print authorizes the Department of Transportation to
set CAFE standards for passenger cars. Under current law, the DOT may modify the
system for light trucks but it lacks clear, explicit authority to alter
requirements for passenger cars, since Congress set that standard. This bill
would give the Department of Transportation clear authority.
“We may need to go farther. Aside from just giving DOT the authority to set
passenger fuel economy standards, I also want NHTSA to take a hard look at
reforming the entire structure of mileage estimates for passenger cars. The
current, outdated system hampers the potential for energy savings, raises
vehicle safety concerns, and fails to treat competitive players fairly.
“Without question, our constituents want us to give DOT statutory authority
to fully reform the passenger car fuel economy program. As chairman of this
committee, I plan to answer that need.
“This hearing is the first step to accomplishing that goal. I plan to ask
each of our witnesses how we can best craft language to revamp the current
passenger car system. How do we make the changes necessary to the passenger car
CAFE program to ensure that it is safe, fair, and reliable? It would be nice if
we could have someone explain what harmonic averaging really is.
“I have no doubt there will be calls by some in Congress to dramatically
raise the fuel economy of passenger cars. For Congress to arbitrarily set a
number, in my opinion, would be a mistake. As Secretary Mineta can tell us,
establishing fuel economy standards is a complex and complicated process. If we
get it wrong, we can create perverse incentives that result in more dangerous
vehicles, reduced competition, and lost jobs. I do not want that to happen.
“In advance, I want to thank our witnesses here today, in particular,
Chairman of the Science Committee, Rep. Boehlert, and a former member of the
House of Representatives, Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta. These are
both excellent men and excellent witnesses. I look forward to hearing from all
of our witnesses.”
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