UCS Submits Comments to NHTSA Recommending Stronger Fuel Standards
July 22, 2008 // Published as a news service by IHS
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The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) submitted comments to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) urging it to strengthen fuel standards.
According to UCS calculations, achieving the minimum 35 miles-per-gallon (mpg) fleet-wide average by 2020 would bolster the auto industry and the economy.
The standards would cut oil use by 1.1 million barrels a day, according to the UCS. For consumers, that is similar to cutting the cost of gasoline at today's prices by more than a dollar per gallon.
Rather than boosting oil industry profits, drivers would spend those fuel savings locally, strengthening local economies, said Jim Kliesch, a UCS senior engineer.
Further, producing fuel-efficient technologies and vehicles would generate green, domestic jobs. According to a UCS analysis, achieving a 35-mpg fleet-wide average would create 149,000 new jobs nationwide in 2020.
In 2007 the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers launched a disinformation campaign in an attempt to blunt congressional support for better fuel economy standards, said the UCS.
The energy bill passed by Congress in December directed the NHTSA, an agency in the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), to require automakers to go beyond 35 mpg if they can achieve a higher "maximum feasible" fuel economy.
When NHTSA sets fuel economy standards, it balances the cost to consumers for fuel-saving technology in new vehicles with the savings from reduced gasoline consumption as well as benefits to society including reducing global warming pollution and strengthening energy security, said the UCS.
One of UCS's objections to the NHTSA draft rule is that it uses a "low" estimate for the cost of gas, approximately $2.50 a gallon or less between 2011 and 2030 (in 2007 dollars).
According to a UCS report, the NHTSA could set cost-effective fleet average fuel economy standards approaching 40 mpg by 2020, a target achievable even without hybrid technology.
With a 25% hybrid market share in 2020, a fleet average fuel economy of 42 mpg could be achieved while increased sales of fuel-efficient hybrids could push the average even higher, said the UCS.
Source: Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).