What's New

Reps. Markey (Mass.) and Platts (Penn.) recently introduced the Fuel Economy Reform Act (H.R. 1506) to improve gas mileage standards. Oregon Reps. Blumenauer, DeFazio, and Hooley are all co-sponsors. The bill would raise the average gas mileage of cars and light trucks to 35 miles per gallon by 2018, and then 4 percent per year after that.

The Issue

We can reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Through improved gas mileage, better transportation choices and clean farm-based fuels, we can easily save more than twice the amount of oil we import from the Persian Gulf.

The United States consumes more oil than any other country, and our cars, SUVs and light trucks account for 40 percent of this consumption. In Oregon, gasoline represents 53 percent of the state’s petroleum consumption. Unfortunately, our oil consumption continues to increase. The average gas mileage of new vehicles actually declined by 6 percent between 1987 and 2004 as automakers produced more gas-guzzling SUVs and light trucks.  Americans also are driving more than ever before: in Oregon, vehicle-miles traveled increased 66 percent between 1983 and 2003.  

The effects of our country’s oil dependence are devastating: rising prices transfer hundreds of millions of dollars taken from Oregonians and the Oregon economy to oil companies with record-breaking profits. And at the same time, we continue to increase the amount of global warming pollution spewing into our atmosphere, warming our climate, and threatening precious natural resources.

The best way to cut America’s oil dependence and shield consumers from price spikes at the pump is to make cars and light trucks go farther on a gallon of gasoline.  Fortunately, we have the technology to increase the efficiency of our cars and light trucks to 40 miles per gallon (mpg) over the next decade while improving safety and maintaining performance. Every year that goes by without a meaningful increase in gas mileage means more oil dependence, more pain at the gas pump and more global warming. A 2006 Environment Oregon report showed that if the Bush administration had announced, as part of the unveiling of its energy policy in May 2001, an increase in fuel economy to 40 mpg by 2012:

• Oregon would now be consuming 5,600 fewer barrels of oil per day, Oregonians would save $98 million in 2006 alone, and the state would have avoided 384,000 tons of global warming pollution, the equivalent of taking 102,000 cars off the roads altogether.
• The U.S. would be consuming 500,000 fewer barrels of oil per day, Americans would save $8.7 billiion in 2006, and the country would avoid 34 million tons of global warming pollution, the equivalent of taking almost six million vehicles off the roads.

President Bush has requested authority to raise gas mileage standards. But the President already had authority to increase gas mileage standards, and the White House has supported legislation that would instead grant them authority to change gas mileage standards for passenger cars based on the size and weight of the vehicle. That would actually remove the existing gas mileage standard for cars and provide no guarantee that manufacturers will increase the fuel economy; in fact, they could make their cars bigger and heavier rather than make them go farther on a gallon of gasoline. 

Environment Oregon is working with other environmental groups across the country and our federal advocacy office in Washington, D.C., to push for better solutions. Reps. Markey (Mass.) and Platts (Penn.) recently introduced the Fuel Economy Reform Act (H.R. 1506) to improve gas mileage standards. Oregon Reps. Blumenauer, DeFazio, and Hooley are all co-sponsors. The bill would raise the average gas mileage of cars and light trucks to 35 miles per gallon by 2018, and then 4 percent per year after that.

Senators Feinstein (Calif.), Durbin (Ill.), Snowe (Maine), and Inouye (Hawaii) have introduced Senate legislation to increase gas mileage standards.