Op-ed: “Making Good on a 35-year Goal,” (The Tennessean)

June 2, 2009, by Bart Gordon

Following the end of the Arab oil embargo in 1974, and the months of high oil prices and long lines at the gas station, President Richard Nixon launched Project Independence, declaring, “Let this be our national goal…the United States will not be dependent on any other country for the energy we need to…keep our transportation moving.”
 
Americans widely supported the initiative, and in 1975, Congress passed a law to curb our country’s reliance on foreign oil by creating Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for vehicles.  At the time, new vehicles averaged 12 miles per gallon (mpg).  The fuel efficiency law called for new vehicle fleets to average 18 mpg by 1978, and to gradually increase to 27.3 by 2011. 

In 2008, vehicle fleets produced in our country averaged 22.5 mpg.  While this is above our average in the 1970s, we are far behind the rest of the world.  Compare our progress to cars produced in Japan, which average 46.3 mpg; in the European Union, 44.2 mpg; and in China, 36.7 mpg.  Our standards explain in part why the U.S. is two times more dependent on foreign oil today than in 1974.

The Administration recently announced with the support of the auto industry that it would be raising the national fuel efficiency target to 35.5 mpg by 2016 “to loosen the grip of foreign oil.”
 
In order to meet the standard, many auto manufacturers will produce lighter vehicles.  Lighter, however, doesn’t mean less safe.  Scientists at Oak Ridge National Labs have found lighter vehicles – made of carbon-fiber composites, high-strength steel, or aluminum – to be as safe as or safer than regular steel bodied cars currently on the road.

Automakers will also produce more hybrids and clean diesel cars to meet the new efficiency standards.  While these cars may initially have a higher sticker price, the cost will quickly be recouped at the pump, which drivers will visit less often with their more fuel efficient cars.

However, the new fuel efficiency standard will not end our dependency on foreign oil by itself.  While the standard will reduce our country’s overall consumption of oil, vehicles powered by non-petroleum products will ultimately be the key to our energy independence. 

Oak Ridge and labs around the country are working with auto manufacturers to develop these next-generation energy sources for vehicles.  When the auto revolution comes, and we are not far from it, cars will be powered by American-made energy sources like electricity and hydrogen. 

General Motors, Nissan, Honda, and Toyota are all close.  Nissan recently stated that Tennessee will be one of the launch markets for their all-electric vehicle, which they plan to begin mass producing next year, hopefully in Smyrna.

We currently import two-thirds of the oil we need, and our transportation sector accounts for 70% of U.S. oil consumption.  Foreign oil cartels can disrupt our economy – let’s not forget the gas crisis of last summer – or attempt to influence our foreign policy with another embargo.  To make good on our ‘national goal’ of energy independence, things must change – our economic and national security depends on it.

Congressman Bart Gordon of Murfreesboro represents Tennessee's 6th district in the U.S. House of Representatives where he is the Chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee.