U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, made the following statement today during the full committee hearing entitled, “National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to Set Passenger Car Fuel Economy Standards.”
“This committee print is the first of many steps that this committee intends to take to foster the goal of minimizing dependence of foreign sources of energy and, over time, make it possible to have energy independence in the United States of America.
“In the wake of the 1973-74 Arab oil embargo, Congress passed the Energy Policy Conservation Act, which established corporate average fuel efficiency, known as CAFE, standards for passenger cars and light trucks sold in the United States.
“Under the CAFE system, we’ve come a long way with our light truck fleet. The Department of Transportation took a major step forward in March, announcing a reformed CAFE program for light trucks. This new program will save the United States nearly 11 billion gallons of fuel over the lifetime of the vehicles sold between 2008 and 2011.
“We can not say the same for passenger cars. In 1975, Congress set a goal of doubling fuel economy for passenger cars by 1985 to 27.5 miles per gallon. According to my math, that was 31 years ago. And today, the fuel economy mandate for passenger cars is unchanged. What makes this static fuel economy number even more striking is under the new light truck rule, there are now SUVs required to meet stricter CAFE standards than passenger cars. It really does appear that the time has come to at least allow for the possibility of a change in the passenger car standard.
“Today’s committee print authorizes the Department of Transportation to set CAFE standards for passenger cars. Under current law, the DOT may modify the system for light trucks but it lacks clear, explicit authority to alter requirements for passenger cars, since Congress set that standard. This bill would give the Department of Transportation clear authority.
“We may need to go farther. Aside from just giving DOT the authority to set passenger fuel economy standards, I also want NHTSA to take a hard look at reforming the entire structure of mileage estimates for passenger cars. The current, outdated system hampers the potential for energy savings, raises vehicle safety concerns, and fails to treat competitive players fairly.
“Without question, our constituents want us to give DOT statutory authority to fully reform the passenger car fuel economy program. As chairman of this committee, I plan to answer that need.
“This hearing is the first step to accomplishing that goal. I plan to ask each of our witnesses how we can best craft language to revamp the current passenger car system. How do we make the changes necessary to the passenger car CAFE program to ensure that it is safe, fair, and reliable? It would be nice if we could have someone explain what harmonic averaging really is.
“I have no doubt there will be calls by some in Congress to dramatically raise the fuel economy of passenger cars. For Congress to arbitrarily set a number, in my opinion, would be a mistake. As Secretary Mineta can tell us, establishing fuel economy standards is a complex and complicated process. If we get it wrong, we can create perverse incentives that result in more dangerous vehicles, reduced competition, and lost jobs. I do not want that to happen.”
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