NGOs React to State of the Union Speech

Union of Concerned Scientists:

Although this could be the breakthrough we have been waiting for on fuel economy, increasing the gas mileage of cars, SUVs, minivans and pickup trucks to 34 mpg by 2017 (equivalent to a 4% improvement per year), will work only if Congress passes a law – without loopholes and escape clauses – making it a reality, and continues this work beyond 2017.

It would save 550,000 barrels of oil a day in 2017, more than we currently import from Iraq. Producing 35 billion gallons of renewable fuels by 2017 would cut our projected oil demand by 1.5 million barrels per day in 2017, reducing our oil dependence by 6.4%.

If 18 billion gallons came from corn ethanol, then the remaining 17 billion gallons must come from cellulosic ethanol or other renewable fuels by 2017. These fuels must be produced without polluting the air, water and soil.

If alternative fuels are made from coal instead global warming pollution produced from gasoline will double from today’s rate.

To address global warming, an overall cap on global warming pollution for the entire economy must be set as a complement to policies that directly address transportation, electricity and other sources of pollution. For example, we need legislation that would require utilities to produce 20% of the nation’s electricity from renewable sources by 2020.

Natural Resources Defense Council:

In acknowledging global warming for the first time in a State of the Union address, President Bush took a necessary first step.

Turning coal into liquid transportation fuel, for instance, would generate nearly twice the amount of global warming pollution than today’s petroleum-based fuels do. Similarly, producing alternative fuels such as ethanol from wood chips that come from endangered forests could inflict widespread ecological damage.

President Bush was silent on America’s need for a mandatory limit on greenhouse gases, which is precisely what 10 of our biggest corporations called for on Monday in forming the U.S. Climate Action Partnership.

American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy:

The President set extremely ambitious goals for alternative fuels, while making tepid promises on fuel economy. While we need new clean fuels, energy efficiency is the first fuel in the race for energy security. Congress should set a stronger CAFE standard that would save at least 12 billion gallons of gasoline in 2017 and 50 billion in 2030.”

By using lighter materials, better power electronics, leaner fuel mixes, cylinder deactivation, advanced transmissions, hybrid-electric drives, and other known technologies, fuel economy can be increased substantially at modest cost.

The dual-fuel loophole in the current CAFE law, which gives CAFE credit for vehicles that burn ethanol fuels, regardless of whether they actually use such fuels, threatens to squander as much fuel as his plan would save in 2017. It would reduce fleet fuel economy by up to 5%.

Instead of expanding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve at a cost of $65 billion, ACEEE recommends that half of those funds be used for RD&D, tax incentives, and other measures to reduce oil demand.

ACEEE’s research shows that the interconnectedness of our energy markets constrains new supply options of all kinds, and that energy efficiency should be used more aggressively as the lead element of a sound energy policy. Congress should take a much broader view of America’s energy security by setting savings targets for electricity and natural gas as well as oil.

Alliance to Save Energy:

President Bush’s State of the Union address set important, laudable goals for decreased gasoline consumption to be achieved in part through increasing the fuel economy of passenger and light duty vehicles. The goal is set; the next, most important and perhaps most difficult step is for the administration and Congress to work together – post haste and on a bipartisan basis – to codify new CAFE standards that can ensure realization of the gas savings.

Asking Congress only for the authority to have the Secretary of Transportation ‘develop a plan’ is a too circuitous, time-consuming, and uncertain route to realizing a goal that multiple studies indicate is very achievable in the near term.