http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072805Q.shtml
t r u t h o u t -
EPA Holds Back Report on Car Fuel Efficiency
By Danny Hakim
The New York Times
Thursday 28 July 2005
Detroit - With Congress poised for a final vote on the energy
bill, the Environmental Protection Agency made an 11th-hour decision
Tuesday to delay the planned release of an annual report on fuel
economy.
But a copy of the report, embargoed for publication Wednesday,
was sent to The New York Times by a member of the E.P.A.
communications staff just minutes before the decision was made to
delay it until next week. The contents of the report show that
loopholes in American fuel economy regulations have allowed
automakers to produce cars and trucks that are significantly less
fuel-efficient, on average, than they were in the late 1980's.
Releasing the report this week would have been inopportune for
the Bush administration, its critics said, because it would have come
on the eve of a final vote in Congress on energy legislation six
years in the making. The bill, as it stands, largely ignores auto
mileage regulations.
The executive summary of the copy of the report obtained by The
Times acknowledges that "fuel economy is directly related to energy
security," because consumer cars and trucks account for about 40
percent of the nation's oil consumption. But trends highlighted in
the report show that carmakers are not making progress in improving
fuel economy, and environmentalists say the energy bill will do
little to prod them.
"Something's fishy when the Bush administration delays a report
showing no improvement in fuel economy until after passage of their
energy bill, which fails to improve fuel economy," said Daniel
Becker, the Sierra Club's top global warming strategist. "It's
disturbing that despite high gas prices, an oil war and growing
concern about global warming pollution, most automakers are failing
to improve fuel economy."
Eryn Witcher, a spokeswoman for the E.P.A., said the timing of
the release of the report had nothing to do with the energy bill
deliberations.
"We are committed to sharing our scientific studies with the
public in the most comprehensive and understandable format possible,"
she said. "Issue experts are reviewing the fuel economy data and we
look forward to providing a summary of the information next week."
Some of what the report says reaffirms what has long been known.
Leaps in engine technology over the last couple of decades have been
mostly used to make cars faster, not more fuel-efficient, and the
rise of sport utility vehicles and S.U.V.-like pickup trucks has
actually sapped efficiency. The average 2004 model car or truck got
20.8 miles per gallon, about 6 percent less than the 22.1 m.p.g. of
the average new vehicle sold in the late 1980's, according to the
report.
At the same time, while General Motors and the Ford Motor Company
are the most common targets of environmental groups, the E.P.A.
report shows that several foreign automakers have had the sharpest
declines in recent fuel economy performance as they move aggressively
into the truck market.
The average 2004 model sold by Nissan, Hyundai and Volkswagen was
at least a half-mile a gallon less fuel-efficient than in the
previous model year, a sharp drop.
"It's appalling that Nissan, V.W. and Hyundai are accelerating in
reverse," Mr. Becker said.
Kyle Bazemore, a Nissan spokesman, said the company's new large
pickup truck, the Titan, and new large S.U.V.'s, like the Armada,
clearly affected its overall results.
"In '03, we didn't have the Titan and Armada," he said. "We've
entered into new markets, but we feel we are doing it responsibly."
John Krafcik, vice president of product development and corporate
strategy at Hyundai, pointed out that his company sells relatively
few S.U.V.'s but has recently increased its offerings. "Car by car,
we're improving fuel economy on every model in our range," he said.
"That's a more appropriate way to look at it."
David Friedman, a research director at the Union of Concerned
Scientists, an environmental group, disagreed.
"The 8.5 million barrels a day that American cars and trucks use
have to do with the vehicles on the road, not the model-by-model
comparisons," he said. "What matters to our oil consumption is the
fuel economy of the fleet on the road."
Of the eight major automakers examined in the report, only G.M.,
Toyota and Honda showed increases in fuel efficiency in the 2004
model year, the most recent year for which hard sales data is
available. Ford had the lowest mileage of the group. Honda, which
does not sell the heaviest kinds of trucks, had the best overall
mileage.
Some foreign companies do not even trouble themselves to follow
fuel economy regulations. BMW, in fact, has paid more than $70
million in fines since the 2000 model year for noncompliance. The
company has argued that American fuel regulations, which are taken as
an average over a company's entire fleet, put luxury makers at a
disadvantage.
"We sell the ultimate driving machine and people expect us to
offer them the kind of BMW vehicles they really want to drive," said
Dave Buchko, a spokesman.
Backers of the energy bill have said it will broadly change the
nation's energy policy.
Representative Joe L. Barton, the Texas Republican who is
chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said this week
that "it is a darn good bill, and it is going to help this country,
and the sooner we get it done, the better."
Environmentalists disagree.
"It effectively does nothing to cut our dependence on oil," Mr.
Friedman said.
While the proposed bill, as it stands, does offer limited tax
credits for hybrid electric cars and advanced diesels, environmental
groups object to extending mileage credits for vehicles that can be
filled up with an ethanol blend instead of gasoline; many consumers
who purchase such vehicles are not even aware of the feature.
The E.P.A. report illustrates what has happened as the industry
has poured resources into S.U.V.'s, minivans and family-oriented
pickup trucks, vehicle types with less stringent fuel economy
requirements than cars. The average new vehicle weight has risen to
about 4,000 pounds today, from about 3,200 in the early 1980's. At
the same time, the horsepower of an average engine has roughly
doubled over two decades, trimming four seconds from the time it
takes for the average vehicle to accelerate from zero to 60.
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