Contents:
1. Summary
2. Auto Emissions
3. Fuel Economy
4. Oil Savings
5. Diesel Cleanup

Summary

This winter, we continued to work toward expanding California’s clean car regulations across the country and to to pressure automakers to provide consumers with better vehicle choices. Despite the administration’s opposition to setting modest oil savings goals last year, bipartisan efforts emerged in both the House and Senate to build support for strong oil savings legislation. Though the president acknowledged our national addiction to oil in his State of the Union address, the administration refused to listen to experts and over 100,000 citizen comments and provided very weak revisions to fuel economy standards for light trucks. The administration did respond to two laws UCS played an instrumental role in passing and requested $50 million to help clean up school buses and other polluting diesel equipment. Unfortunately the administration also plans to cut vital state-level clean air program grants, which would make it difficult to realize the clean air improvements from diesel cleanup. 

Auto Emissions

Oregon’s courts have rebuffed an automaker lawsuit aimed at scuttling efforts by activists in Washington and Oregon to create a West Coast “clean air corridor” by adopting the stronger California auto emission standards. Oregon’s Environmental Quality Commission has provisionally adopted the clean car standards, and will give its recommendation on permanent adoption during its next meeting in late June. UCS activists in the state sent over 500 letters to the commission asking for permanent adoption in order to cement the amazing work UCS experts, activists, and allies have done to bolster the West Coast’s vehicle emission standards.

Other state attempts to adopt and protect stronger vehicle emission standards are proceeding, although in fits and starts. In Pennsylvania, the state senate passed a bill to override Governor Rendell’s efforts to adopt clean car standards in mid-March by a 27-20 vote. The governor has called the bill “unacceptable” and it has yet to pass through the Pennsylvania house.

As expected, the Auto Alliance, the lobbyist group representing most of the major automobile manufacturers, is filing suits against selected states adopting the California automotive global warming pollution standards. This activity has not stopped new initiatives to adopt part or all of the clean car standards in Minnesota, Georgia, and North Carolina. UCS will continue to play an active role in state efforts to adopt or defend strong auto pollution standards, and will counter Auto Alliance efforts to undermine these important initiatives.

Fuel Economy

UCS analysts submitted detailed technical comments on the administration’s proposed changes to Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations for light trucks (minivans, SUVs, and pickups), and we published our “Fuel Economy Fraud” report detailing the ways automakers have “gamed the CAFE system” in favor of producing less fuel efficient vehicles. Over 100,000 UCS and allied organizations activists submitted public comments calling for stronger standards. And yet, the final rule was a virtual carbon copy of the draft plan. According to a UCS analysis of the plan, the new standards will save less than two weeks of gasoline each year over the next two decades.

UCS activists quickly reacted to this disappointing news by sending nearly 33,000 letters to their members of Congress asking that they fill the void left by this administration in truly addressing the United States’ “addiction to oil.” UCS policy analysts will continue to track the progress of oil savings legislation in Congress and push for genuine solutions to high gas prices and too few clean, efficient vehicle choices for American consumers.

Oil Savings

Despite the lack of action on the administration’s part, even on Capitol Hill there is a growing realization that our addiction to oil is harming the environment, the economy, and our national security. UCS is supporting a variety of legislative efforts to help reduce our oil usage. The most comprehensive proposals are a pair of bipartisan bills, S. 2025 introduced by Evan Bayh (D-IN) in the Senate and H.R. 4049 introduced by Representative Kingston (R-GA) in the House. Both bills have a bipartisan list of cosponsors, and have a similar structure that combines aggressive oil savings targets with a variety of programs that would help reduce oil usage. Some of the programs covered by the bills include incentives for manufacturers to produce more efficient vehicles, mandates for flexible fuel vehicles, biofuel incentives, tire efficiency labeling, the creation of heavy duty vehicle efficiency standards, and lifting the cap on the hybrid tax credits, among many other areas. UCS will be working with a diverse coalition to build support for these two bills. 

There are also several smaller bills that are more narrowly focused on a particular aspect of saving oil. These range from increasing the production of biofuels, to increasing the number of flexible fueled vehicles on the road while closing the “dual-fuel” loophole that gives these vehicles unfair CAFE fuel economy credit, to providing automobile manufacturers assistance with health care legacy costs in exchange for the automakers commitment to building more fuel-efficient vehicles. Because this is a short legislative year due to the upcoming elections, prospects for passage of any of these bills is limited. However, UCS will be working to take advantage of any opportunities that arise to move legislation that would save oil, and to build support for more comprehensive solutions.

Diesel Cleanup

The Federal Clean School Bus grant program passed as part of the 2005 Energy and Transportation bills following years of determined efforts by UCS, as leaders of the Washington, D.C. clean school bus coalition, and the national Clean School Bus Alliance. Another more general diesel cleanup bill, the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA), was included in the energy bill, and would fund diesel cleanup in all sectors such as construction and agricultural equipment as well as ports. In the administration’s budget request to Congress, the president combined both programs into a request for $50 million for Clean Diesel grants.
 
EPA officials have assured us that Clean School Bus will remain a priority, and that if appropriated, the $50 million will include funding to continue the EPA's Clean School Bus USA program—taking into account the authorization passed for Clean School Bus as part of the Energy and Transportation bills last year. Considering that last year’s total funding for diesel cleanup was $12.7 million (including Clean School Bus), and that this is one of the few items in EPA's budget that actually increased, this is a positive sign.
 
Unfortunately, the president's budget also cuts funding for the state air agencies that will help implement the funding for clean school buses, broader clean diesel programs, and a host of air pollution reduction initiatives. We are also working to restore the proposed $35 million cut for those programs, which is critical for clean air generally as well as clean diesel. UCS will continue its leadership role to ensure that diesel cleanup programs are fully funded, but not at the expense of other vital clean air programs.