Fuel Economy Face-Off Looming ?

Washington DC May 10, 2007; The AIADA newsletter reported that after a Senate committee approved on Tuesday a 40 percent increase in fuel economy over the next decade, Dave McCurdy, head of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, called the bill "unrealistic and unattainable."

According to the Detroit News, the best hope of automakers foreign and domestic may be in sticking together -- advice that's been delivered in private by Rep. John Dingell (D-MI). Dingell says he wants a broader bill that would require other industries to do their part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday the lower chamber would vote on a fuel economy proposal before the end of the year. U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit, has been aggressively lobbying his colleagues, but expressed disappointment with the final bill. "It's got major problems," Levin said.

"The committee had made some improvements, which represent a few little steps in the right direction, but there's a long road." For example, rather than requiring 4 percent annual increases in fuel economy indefinitely after 2020, as was originally proposed, the adopted bill would instead end the increases in 2030.