SUVOA Issues Response to the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Markup in the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation

WASHINGTON--The following is a statement by Barry W. McCahill, president of SUV Owners of America:

In the rush to “do something” to lessen our dependence on foreign oil and cut greenhouse gases, the Senate Commerce Committee’s actions may have done more to hurt consumers than solve either of these problems.

The Senate Commerce Committee today approved legislation that would dramatically raise fuel economy standards (called Corporate Average Fuel Economy – CAFE) for passenger cars and trucks, including pickups and SUVs. The legislation for the first time would extend fuel economy mandates to heavy tractor-trailers and buses.

Fuel economy requirements were put in place more than 30 years ago with the intent of reducing our dependence on foreign oil. In 1975, the U.S. imported 35 percent of its oil supply. Today, we import more than 60 percent of our oil. Clearly, it is an energy policy that has failed. But what does the Senate Commerce Committee do? It mandates more of the same. Why should we believe that making changes to a program that has provided no benefits in the past would work now? Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE)—is a tired horse with a performance record so bad that nobody should bet even a penny on it.

Because of record high gas prices, everyone wants vehicles that get the best fuel economy possible, and especially owners of SUVs and light trucks. Decreasing dependence on imported oil is also critically important to all Americans.

But vehicle purchase decisions also involve family needs, business uses and leisure lifestyles that demand utility and size, factors apparently being ignored as Congress enters the motor vehicle business.

If history repeats itself, once again CAFE will be high on* expectations and low on results. But what it will do with certainty is increase the cost of new vehicles, perhaps limit consumer choices, and ramp up the prices of all consumer goods. The proposal to apply CAFE standards to medium- and heavy-duty trucks with 4 percent annual increases is both unreasonable and will with great certainty result in huge increases in the costs of goods delivered by truck to communities across the country.

A better approach is to get America off of oil and onto bio-fuels and incentivize new technologies like highly fuel-efficient clean diesels and other, clean burning technologies. Only then will we make progress toward cutting our oil use, further cleaning the environment.

There’s no free lunch at this CAFE and consumers need to know it before they are served a very expensive meal.

SUVOA is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to supporting the rights and serving the interests of 85 million SUV and light truck owners. For more information about SUVOA visit www.suvoa.com.