New SUV Fuel Standards Will Get Us Nowhere

The Bush administration increased fuel efficiency standards for SUVs. Environmentalists say its too little, to0 late.

1 minute read

December 14, 2002, 9:00 AM PST

By Abhijeet Chavan @http://twitter.com/legalaidtech


"CAFE [Corporate average fuel economy] long ago failed to achieve its primary goal, a reduction in the overall consumption of petroleum fuels for cars and trucks. In fact, American fuel consumption has gone up, not down...Today's big CAFE news is that the Bush administration...agreed to...the biggest increase in light truck fuel economy in two decades....An increase of 1.5 mpg is hardly enough to make a difference...The answer is at the gas pump, the one the politicians and environmentalists refuse to tax...[In Europe] so many consumers are turning to [fuel efficient vehicles] that the European Community is dumping excess gasoline on the U.S. market. Ironically, that dumped gasoline is helping to support sales of the SUVs U.S. environmentalists abhor." environmentalists abhor.

Thanks to Abhijeet Chavan

Friday, December 13, 2002 in The Washington Post

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