Auto industry revs up anti-CAFE fight

Automakers and dealers, lobbying to block tough fuel mileage standards, have created a website to make it easier for lawmakers to see how much voters back home like to drive gas-guzzling SUVs.

The site, autochoice.org, provides a breakout of the registered light trucks and automobiles by congressional district.

{mosads}The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the National Automobile Dealers Association developed the site.

Sales of light trucks outpaced sales of passenger cars in 39 states in 2006, according to the site.

After years of blocking fuel standards increases, the auto lobby acknowledges some increase is acceptable. But it is pushing hard to maintain separate standards for lights trucks and cars.

The Senate energy bill, which the industry opposes, would require the total fleet to reach 35 miles per gallon by 2020.
The Senate bill could have a “negative impact on the types of vehicles manufacturers are able to offer,” auto alliances spokesman Charles Territo said.

Environmental groups are lobbying to prevent any backsliding during an upcoming conference on energy legislation between the Senate and the House, which did not include Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, standards in its version of the bill.

Fuel standards for automobiles have not been raised in more than 20 years.

A bill backed by auto ally John Dingell (D-Mich.), the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and 164 other cosponsors that maintains separate fuel standards for cars and trucks remains the favored approach for the industry. The Hill-Terry bill in the House, named for authors Baron Hill (D-Ind.) and Lee Terry (R-Neb.), is opposed by groups such as the Sierra Club and Union of Concerned Scientists.

UCS estimates Americans would consume 700,000 more barrels of oil a day under the Hill-Terry bill than they would under the Senate CAFE standard.