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Friday, July 21, 2006
CAFE standards
The AP reports on a proposals in Congress to potentially raise Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards. The standards would require the fuel economy for a company's fleet to increase by an average of 4% a year, beginning in 2008.
Grudging kudos to Norm Coleman for being on the right side of the issue:
Earlier this year, the government announced new rules for sport utility vehicles, pickups and vans which would raise mileage requirements by 1.8 mpg over the 2008-2011 model years to a fleetwide average of 24 mpg. Passenger car requirements have held steady at 27.5 mpg for more than a decade.
The Senate bill was backed by five Democrats -- Barack Obama of Illinois, who authored it, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico and Biden. Three Republicans also backed the bill -- Richard Lugar of Indiana, Norm Coleman of Minnesota and Gordon Smith of Oregon.
It baffles me that such legislation would even be necessary. Gas prices have increased by 100% of the past several years. If people still want to buy Hummers and Truckasauruses (fact check: the Truckasaurus is not a real car; it's a pretend monster car from the Simpsons) at $3 a gallon, what more can be done?
I think the better solution is to focus on costs. If you drive a 6,000 pound truck, are you "using" the roads more than a 3,000 pound car? If you burn 2 gallons of gas to commute 20 miles, how much carbon dioxide are you pumping into the atmosphere? Seems to me that we should address the issue either through the gas tax or through a carbon tax on new car sales.
