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White House Wants New Fuel Economy Standards

By Truman Lewis
ConsumerAffairs.com

April 28, 2006

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Reacting to public uproar over gasoline prices, the Bush administration is working to change passenger car fuel economy standards for the first time in more than 20 years.

In March, the administration recalibrated the standards for light trucks -- setting different fuel economy targets for vehicles of different sizes and raising the overall fuel-saving requirements for manufacturers by about 10 percent over the 2008-11 model years.

Now the White House says it wants to make similar changes in the standards for cars.

The earliest that the changes for cars could take effect would be the 2009 model year. Cars have been required to average 27.5 mpg since the mid-1980s. Federal law in 1975 established the corporate average fuel economy program -- or CAFE.

The new CAFE plan was spelled out for reporters in an unusual telephone news conference yesterday. It's part of a series of attempts by politicians at all levels to make it at least appear they're doing something about high gas prices.

The plan was outlined in very general terms by officials who would speak only on condition that they not be identified, apparently so as not to upstage the president.

But new CAFE standards aren't something that will happen overnight.

First, Congress would have to enact a law giving the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) the authority to set multiple standards for different types of cars. Then NHTSA would have to gather product information from automakers, publish a notice of rule-making and accept comments on the proposal.

Finally, automakers would have to be given at least 18 months lead time before any changes would take effect.

The point of setting different fuel economy targets for vehicles of different sizes is to discourage automakers from downsizing models to comply, thereby making vehicles less safe.

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