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Politics : GOPwinger Lies/Distortions/Omissions/Perversions of Truth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: American Spirit who wrote (128744)	7/15/2008 7:07:40 AM
From: Brumar89	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 173976

Bush asking for power to change CAFE stds in 2006: Bush Wants Power to Raise Car Fuel-Economy Standards (Update3) April 27 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush's administration wants authority to raise fuel-economy standards for cars and change the way they are determined, as gasoline pump prices rise above $3 a gallon in some states. Congress by law set the current standard of 27.5 miles per gallon for cars, which hasn't changed since the mid-1980s. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said in a letter to congressional leaders today that he wants authority to raise car standards through an administrative process similar to what he now does for light trucks. The rules should ``be set through an administrative process based on sound science,'' Mineta said. If given the authority, he plans to overhaul the way the standards are decided, as he did in truck rules announced in March that are based on vehicle size rather than on an average for an automaker's entire fleet. The administration's proposal comes as the government faces pressure to act against the surge in gasoline prices. Crude-oil prices touched $75.35 a barrel April 21 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and gasoline pump prices are above $3 a gallon in states including New York, Maryland and California. ``They can bring the authority to set all fuel rules under one roof, and it won't make a bit of difference,'' said Maryann Keller, an independent auto analyst in Greenwich, Connecticut, and who was also part of a government-appointed review panel that studied the effectiveness of fuel-economy rules in 2002. ``What's going to affect fuel consumption is gasoline that costs $3 a gallon,'' Keller said. ``Price is the most effective way to curb consumption.'' Targeting `Single Standard' Automakers under the current law must meet the 27.5 mpg average for their entire fleet of cars or pay penalties. The current required average for trucks is 21.6 mpg and changes to size-based standards by 2011. ``If they are going to treat all manufacturers and technologies equally, in theory I don't think we'd be opposed,'' said Martha Voss, a spokeswoman for Toyota Motor Corp.'s U.S. government affairs group in Washington. Voss hadn't seen details of Mineta's proposal. In the letter Mineta said the administration would oppose any increase in the car standards without a reform in the system for setting them. ``Substantial increases in CAFE standards under the current single standard approach would increase fatalities on America's highways, raise health-care costs and reduce employment,'' he said in the letter to congressional leaders. Most automakers and many government studies suggest passengers in lightweight small cars, particularly if they collide with heavier light trucks, are always at greater risk of death or serious injury in vehicle collisions. 2002 Proposal Mineta in 2002 proposed a similar overhaul in the way fuel economy is calculated for cars, and it was rejected by Congress. Even if Congress approves the change this year, it would be several more months before Mineta could raise the standards under a regulation. He would need to collect data from automakers and conduct an analysis before he could even propose a rule. His truck rule took seven months to enact from the time it was proposed in August 2005. Also, under current law, Mineta must give automakers 18 months of advance notice before new standards take effect. If Congress gives Mineta the authority he seeks this year and maintains the current advance-notice provision, no new standards would take effect until 2009 models at the earliest. ``It doesn't matter who sets CAFE standards, since there are always going to be loopholes,'' Keller said. Those have included allowing vehicles to fall short of minimum mileage requirements if they were so-called dual-fuel models, able to operate on either ethanol or gasoline, or not setting any fuel requirement for light trucks that weighed more than 8,500 pounds, she said. To contact the reporter on this story: John Hughes in Washington at jhughes5@bloomberg.net Last Updated: April 27, 2006 20:43 EDT bloomberg.com