Energy Bill Conferees Agree On Auto Fuel-Efficiency

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September 19, 2002

WASHINGTON -Dow Jones reported that Congressional conferees on a broad-ranging energy bill agreed Thursday morning on measures to require modest increases in U.S. light-truck fuel efficiency.

The energy bill conference voted in favor of a compromise plan to require the light truck category - which includes sport utility vehicles, pickups and minivans - produced for the 2006 through 2012 model years be designed to consume 5 billion gallons less fuel during those seven years than under current efficiency requirements.

The measure is similar to a provision in the energy bill approved by the House last year, but Senate conferees adjusted it to apply in a later timeframe. Energy bill conferees also agreed to ask the National Academy of Sciences to study the effects of raising auto fuel efficiency.

Representatives Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Henry Waxman, D-Calif., dissented, saying Congress should have adopted more aggressive increases in the corporate average fuel economy, or CAFE, program.

Waxman said the 5-billion-gallon target agreed on represents less than 1 mile- per-gallon in increased efficiency, while Markey said it would save only one day's worth of U.S. oil consumption annually.

But House Energy and Commerce Chairman Billy Tauzin, R-La., who is chairing the conference, said the proposal is only a minimum objective for the Transportation Department as it considers raising auto fuel efficiency.

Energy bill conferees plan to consider Thursday afternoon a House proposal to restructure electricity markets, with a full conference vote on electricity restructuring expected next week. Tauzin is trying to complete work on the energy bill by early October.