Lawmakers Consider Limiting Vehicle Choice

Just as the North American muscle car market is developing, in response to consumer demand, several members of the Senate Commerce Committee are looking to have it stillborn.

Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, is one of them. She and others have introduced a bill that requires a Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) of 35 mpg by 2019. That level is 40 percent above today's requirement.

Snowe and other Committee members are becoming impatient with the administration's work to develop new fuel economy standards. "I sense a lot of reluctance and foot-dragging," she commented.

Nicole Nason, administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which handles fuel economy regulations, told the Committee yesterday that their goal is to have manufacturers add fuel-saving technologies to vehicles and to not limit consumer choice.

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., replied that too much technology goes into satisfying those who want bigger and more powerful vehicles.

NHTSA and the Bush administration want Congress to authorize an revamping of the fuel economy program for cars first. The change would mean setting different standards for different-sized cars, as is done now for light trucks.

Impatience set in as Sen. John Rockefeller, D-W.Va., told NHTSA that they should just go ahead and set higher standards now and leave the overhauling for later.

Responding to Senate concerns last month, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters advised an appropriations hearing that her agency is weighing a range of safety, scientific and cost factors.

Sen. Christopher Bond, R-MS, told Peters he had serious concerns about the potential impact of higher CAFE standards on weakened U.S.-based auto companies and manufacturing jobs.

"We need to ensure that we make appropriate CAFE reforms that will not discriminate against domestic automakers in favor of foreign automakers and that appears to remain a concern under the [across the board increase] proposal," Bond said.

Source: TheChromePony.com