| Remarks by Governor Kulongoski |
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| June 5, 2006 |
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Event on Effect of Gas Prices on Business in Oregon
Thank you, Jeremiah, for your kind introduction. OSPIRG has been working tirelessly to bring attention to the need to increase fuel efficiency standards. I believe your report will be a very important tool as this debate over moves forward. But more importantly, OSPIRG has demonstrated continued involvement and support for broader efforts to address global warming, both in Oregon and across the country.
We are primed for a major victory later this month as the Environmental Quality Commission will decide whether to make permanent the rule it passed last December to adopt cleaner tailpipe standards for Oregon. I continue to support these improved standards because they will lead to more fuel efficient vehicles in Oregon, resulting in fuel savings for Oregon drivers and also in cleaner air and fewer greenhouse gas emissions in Oregon.
I have also championed several clean diesel initiatives in the state that will result in less idling of commercial trucks in Oregon and fuel savings for Oregon truckers and improved environment for both truckers and the public. Again, I was happy to have OSPIRG’s support in this effort
So today I am honored to join OSPIRG to call for the single most important thing the federal government can do to reduce our dependence on imported oil: increase fuel efficiency standards of our nation’s vehicles.
I am a firm believer in energy independence, but energy independence cannot come at the expense of the environment. The first and best step is making sure that we make the most efficient use of the oil that we consume today.
According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, updating fuel efficiency standards to 33 miles per gallon by 2016 would reduce the nation’s oil demand by nearly 500,000 barrels of oil per day by 2015 and 2.1 million barrels in 2025.
By contrast, efforts to produce more oil by drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would only produce around one million barrels of oil a day. It just doesn’t make environmental or economic sense to drill in ANWR.
There is clear historical evidence that vehicle efficiency standards directly contribute to energy independence. When Congress passed such standards as part of the Carter energy plan in the late ‘70’s, the nation’s oil imports, which accounted for more than one-third of our oil use, gradually declined to less than 20 percent in the mid-1980s. The problem is that in the past 20 years, those standards were not updated and the nation’s oil imports steadily rose. Today they exceed 10 million barrels of oil per day, or about 60 percent of our total oil use.
The good news for consumers is that with new technologies like hybrid engines, minivans, SUVs and trucks can be fuel efficient and an appropriate size. Vehicle efficiency standards no longer equate to small cars or unsafe, ultra light vehicles.
In Oregon, state government is leading by example. At my direction, the state fleet is transitioning to more fuel efficient vehicles, like hybrids, saving thousands of dollars on fuel every month. The fleet also has increased its use of ethanol and bio-diesel, again resulting in fuel savings and cleaner emissions.
But there is only so much we can do at the state level. The federal government is being very aggressive in asserting that it has exclusive jurisdiction over fuel efficiency standards.
The question is: what are they doing with this important responsibility? I am convinced that if left to the Bush administration, it will be another several years before we see any increase in vehicle efficiency standards and I am not optimistic those increases will be meaningful.
Our best chance is to prevail upon Congress to adopt a meaningful fuel efficiency standard of 33 miles per gallon. I will be sending a letter to the Oregon Delegation today, urging them to adopt such standards. I am committed to do everything I can to support efforts to pass federal legislation that would achieve this objective.
Thank you very much.
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