House Hears Testimony on CAFE Rules

Washington, D.C., March 13, 2007—Tomorrow members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee will hear testimony from auto company and union representatives on a proposal to tighten federal fuel economy regulations.

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Car company chiefs and the president of the United Auto Workers will explain why proposals from both the White House and Congress to increase the severity of the current mileage requirements will cost billions of dollars, eliminate thousands of <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />U.S. jobs and contribute to thousands of highway deaths a year.

 

The federal fuel economy program, known as CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy), was originally introduced in 1975. While it has had no clear impact on overall gasoline consumption, it has forced carmakers to restrict their sales of larger cars and to downsize other models.  Since larger cars are more crashworthy than smaller cars in practically every collision mode, the result is more highway deaths.

 

“A 2001 study by the National Academy of Sciences made it clear that CAFE kills. Increasing the mileage requirements will make that regulation even deadlier,” said Competitive Enterprise Institute General Counsel, Sam Kazman.  “No matter what new technologies are developed, there will always be a trade-off between fuel economy and safety.”

 

 

Fuel Economy Expert Available for Interviews

San Kazman

General Counsel

[email protected]

202-331-2265

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