Released: May 01, 2006

Bush seeks to raise car fuel standards

Source: By Matt Spetalnick, Reuters [Planet Ark]

President Bush called for legislation Thursday to allow a boost in fuel-efficiency standards for passenger cars, as he sought to soothe rising anxiety among Americans about higher oil costs.

Bush proposed no specific figure for increasing mileage standards for cars for the first time in 16 years. But officials said they wanted broad changes in the long-standing method for calculating how far cars should go on a gallon of gasoline.
Environmentalists have long urged a substantial increase in the fuel-economy standards, which they view as one of the most effective means of reducing the US appetite for foreign oil.

Each manufacturers’ fleet of passenger cars must average 27.5 miles per gallon. However, US automakers have warned that higher fuel standards might compromise safety because vehicles would probably have to be lighter. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta echoed a similar view in a letter to congressional leaders requesting formal authority to reform the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard for cars.

Some Democrats and some auto industry sources believe the administration already has the authority to raise CAFE standards and doesn’t need congressional action.

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