U.S. Senator Ken Salazar

Member: Finance, Agriculture, Energy, Ethics and Aging Committees

 

2300 15th Street, Suite 450 Denver, CO 80202 | 702 Hart Senate Building, Washington, D.C. 20510

 

 

For Immediate Release

June 21, 2007

CONTACT:    Cody Wertz – Comm. Director
303-350-0032


 Sen. Salazar Hails New Energy Efficient Vehicle Standard for America

WASHINGTON, D.C. – United States Senator Ken Salazar, today, hailed the passage of an amendment to the Renewable Fuels, Consumer Protection, and Energy Efficiency Act of 2007 to increase the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for cars and light trucks from 25 miles per gallon for passenger cars and 27.5 miles per gallon for light trucks to 35 miles per gallon by 2020.

“This was the right thing to do if we want to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and I am proud to have voted for it,” said Salazar. “I am also proud to be an original cosponsor of the DRIVE Act, the most important provisions of which we have also included in the energy bill now before the Senate. Together these important provisions will finally put our country on a path toward energy independence.”

Key Facts:

  • The United States lags behind most of the industrialized world including the entire European Union, Japan, China, Australia and Canada in average fuel economy;
  • If we adopt a standard of 35 miles per gallon for our cars and light trucks today, by the year 2025, we would reduce our Nation’s oil needs equal to the amount we currently import from the Persian Gulf.
Estimated Benefits of Increasing Fuel Economy Standards to 35 mpg by 2019:
  2015
 2020
 2025
Reduction in Oil Demand (million barrels per day)
 0.4
1.4
 2.1
Net Consumer Savings with gasoline at $2.00 per gallon (billions per year)
 $ 3
 $ 20
 $ 41
Reduction in Global Warming Pollution (million metric tons CO2-equivalent per year)
 66
 233
 358

The CAFE standards provision includes an exemption for farm work trucks that are between 8,500 pounds and 10,000 pounds and are not SUV’s.

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists:

  • A package of modest, proven conventional technologies is all that would be needed to meet a standard of 35 mpg.
  • Today’s size and acceleration could remain the same and safety could be improved.
  • The technologies would add about $1,100 to the price of an average vehicle in 2019, an investment that would be recovered in less than three years of driving, assuming that gasoline costs $2.00 per gallon.
  • Over the lifetime of the vehicle the owner would save a total of more than $3,600 in gasoline costs.

 

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