REMARKS FOR
THE HONORABLE NORMAN Y. MINETA
SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION
CAFE ANNOUNCEMENT
BALTIMORE, MD
MARCH 29, 2006
10:30 AM
Good morning, and thank you for being here today. I am in Baltimore this morning
because this city’s highways, bridges, and tunnels are among the most congested
in the nation. And a good deal of that traffic comes in the form of pick-up
trucks, sport utility vehicles, and minivans.
Commuters here understand how important these light trucks are to maintaining
our way of life, our mobility, and our economic vitality. But Marylanders also
understand that we have to act now to end our addiction to foreign sources of
oil, and they are not intimidated by big challenges.
It is of course our President who set the goal of reducing our dependence on
foreign sources of oil to make America more secure. So I am here today to
announce the Department of Transportation is doing its part – with tough new
fuel economy standards designed to make the eight and a half million light
trucks sold each year in this country more fuel efficient.
These new standards, which are called the Corporate Average Fuel Economy
standards (CAFE), represent the second time that the Bush Administration has
increased the mileage requirements for light trucks and the first complete
reform of this program since it was created in 1979.
The standards will reduce our fuel consumption by encouraging automakers to
bring the same energy and innovation to fuel economy that they have been
applying to vehicle design, safety, and product reliability for decades.
The new standards represent the most ambitious fuel economy goals for light
trucks ever developed in the program’s twenty-seven year history. And more
importantly, they close the loopholes that have long plagued the current system.
Much has changed in seven months since our initial proposal. So the rules that I
am announcing today include significant improvements that strengthen the
proposal that I first outlined last August.
First, the final standards include individual miles-per-gallon goals for all
passenger trucks sold in the United States. That is because the current approach
to light truck standards is too easy to get around. There is no incentive in the
current structure to encourage automakers to apply fuel-saving technology to
their largest and most profitable vehicles.
Under the new CAFE system, manufacturers will have to add fuel-saving technology
to all passenger trucks. Not only is this good for fuel economy, but it is also
good for safety. Our new standards will encourage automakers to use cutting-edge
fuel-saving technology instead of making weaker, lighter vehicles that put
passengers at risk during crashes.
We also worked hard to make sure that no single SUV gets a free pass under these
new standards. So we have included for the first time ever the largest sport
utility vehicles on the market today – those that weigh between 8,500 and 10,000
pounds – in our final standards starting in 2011.
Just by including theses large sport utility vehicles, we have increased fuel
savings by ten percent, more than 250 million gallons a year.
Finally, the new fuel economy standards strengthen the miles-per-gallon targets
for all light trucks.
We took a good, close look at automakers’ plans, examined new technology that is
in use or under development – like hybrids and the latest generation of
diesel-burning engines – and decided that we could ask more of the manufacturers
than we proposed last August.
This was no easy decision. But seven short months have taught us that we can and
we must save more fuel.
In August, we proposed the highest ever light truck targets of 24 miles per
gallon, up from the current average of 21.6.
We have now asked even more from automakers by including 240,000 of the world’s
least fuel efficient SUVs. This means that, for some light trucks, the
fuel-economy target will be 28.4 miles per gallon, higher than today’s standard
for passenger cars.
Many of the changes to the CAFE program will be mandatory beginning in 2011.
Automakers that can and want to move faster can opt into our reformed program
earlier.
Regardless, the changes in the new standards will have a significant impact on
the way that companies produce, design, and market their light trucks. And our
schedule allows manufacturers enough time to make the adjustments needed so that
they can comply with the new standards.
By the time that our reforms are fully in place, these new light truck standards
will save two billion more gallons of fuel than our earlier proposal, for a
total savings of 10.7 billion gallons.
We are focusing our efforts today on light trucks because that is where we
believe that we can achieve the most savings in the shortest period of time.
In addition, as part of the Energy Bill that President Bush signed last summer,
Congress directed the Department to study ways to improve fuel economy standards
for all passenger cars sold in the United States. We are working on that
project, and expect to send a report to Congress this August.
Saving fuel is as important to our national security and economic vitality as it
is to preserving the environment. President Bush understands that and is
committed to encouraging the kind of measures that will reduce our reliance on
foreign oil.
Getting to that goal won’t be easy, and that is exactly why we have to start
now.
So today is about much more than just making America’s favorite vehicles more
fuel efficient. It is about taking the necessary steps to ensure America’s
prosperity, security, and strength well into the future.
Thank you.
# # #
Briefing Room
