WP: Higher Mileage Standards Embraced

[Pirate Smile]

Higher Mileage Standards Embraced
Critics Say Bush's Plan Is Too Weak

By Margaret Webb Pressler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 24, 2005; Page A01

The Bush administration proposed higher fuel economy standards for SUVs and minivans yesterday with a new regulatory system that sets different mileage goals for six sizes of vehicles, replacing the current single standard for all light trucks.

Administration officials say the regulations would result in more fuel savings than any previous increase in efficiency standards for larger vehicles. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta said the rules would save 10 billion gallons of gasoline and "result in less pain at the pump for motorists, without sacrificing safety."


But environmentalists say the complex proposal adds up to little real change and continues to reward Detroit for building bigger vehicles. It also addresses the complaint of U.S. automakers that it's easier for foreign-owned manufacturers to meet existing standards because they sell fewer large trucks.

"The proposal is almost embarrassing in terms of its effect on fuel consumption," said Eric Haxthausen, an economist with Environmental Defense of Washington. He called the 10 billion gallons of fuel savings a "weak yardstick" because it would be spread over as long as 15 years. Last year, for instance, U.S. drivers consumed nearly 140 billion gallons of gas, according to federal Energy Information Administration. "We can and should do better," Haxthausen said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/23/AR2005082300625.html

[MadisonProgressive]

1. This is rich

"Other activists complain that the fuel efficiency increase being sought averages out to less than half a mile per gallon per year, with an average of about 24 mpg slated for 2011 -- a total improvement of 1.8 mpg over four years."

Did you know that the Ford Model T got 25mpg? We've come along way in 100 years!

[BiggJawn]

4. Hell, that's nothing....

I had a '67 Chrysler that got 27 MPG. With a top-end in excess of 130 MPH, too.

And there was the '84 Olds "88" that I tweaked and twiddled with until it would deliver 29 MPG @ 65 MPH between Indy and Detroit.

And now I have a '02 Ranger that gives up 20.5 MPG wheter you drive it at 50 or 75 MPH. WTF?

My GF had an old Honda that gave her 44-47 MPG all the time. Her brand-new Civic barely makes 30 MPG. WTF?

Bet it's the chipset in the OBC. Probably has a few lines of "Cheney Code" in the programming to keep the MPG shitty no matter how you drive it.

[Warren Stupidity]

2. A drop in a rapidly emptying bucket.

What a bunch of bushit.

On the other hand the mere fact that they have proposed any changes to the CAFE standards is yet another indicator that peak oil is here.

Do the words "too little too late" mean anything to the idiots in charge?

[fortyfeetunder]

3. Too little, too late

I'd do anything to tell the * administration, "I TOLD YOU SO"...that we'd have to increase fuel economy before we are in another fuel crisis. Tough.

[Bozita]

8. Bullseye! ... No editing required

[Strelnikov_]

5. About The Only Thing Selling Will Be Lupo's (Or Equal) (74/94 mpg)

by 2011 with gas at $10/gal., when it can be found.

http://www.tc.gc.ca/programs/environment/atvpgm/vehdesc/volkswag/00_lupo.pdf

[hatrack]

6. How about "Marginally Higher Fuel Standards Grudgingly Mentioned"?

That, I think, pretty much captures the sum total value of this little PR stunt.

Do the frickin' math, people - 10 billion gallons/42 gallons per barrel = 238,095,238 barrels of gasoline.

Since daily American consumption of gasoline and diesel is now a little more than 20 million barrels per day, 238,095,238/20,000,000 = 11.9 days of domestic gasoline and diesel consumption.

Whoop-dee-fucking-doo.

[FloridaPat]

7. ASure. He dumped the fuel econ standards when he first got into

office. Remeber Cheney said conservation doesn't work? They took all the money that was going into finding ways to increase mileage and dumped it into the fuel cell. And he's just doing this for trucks? Does this mean Cheney flip-floped? Or both of them.

[Coastie for Truth]

9. I guess Motorola told Ford, GM, and Chrysler

"We can tweak the 68000 so that the continuously variable transmission can talk to the injectors and the distributor." That's all it takes.

Seriously - we would have had hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and pure electrics made in the USA by Ameican autoworkers - across the size and weight spectrum - if the Big Three hadn't spent the 1980's and the 1990's bad mouthing them as only fit for use as golf carts by the Viagra set in planned retirement communities.

Fuel cells are 10-20 years in the future -- and they are best suited to distributed and co-generation --- not mobile traction.

[proud patriot]

10. gee ya think

:eyes: too bad the republican Congress and Senate
have felt otherwise since they have been in power.

[wli]

11. start with 100 mi/gal as a standard of roadworthiness...

Incrementally imposed, of course.

Serious crises necessitate aggressive countermeasures.