PORTLAND—After
the Pacific Northwest’s first month in history with gasoline prices
hovering around $3 a gallon, Governor Kulongoski today joined OSPIRG to
call on the Oregon Congressional delegation to vote for a proposal to
increase automobile gas mileage standards to 33 miles per gallon (mpg).
OSPIRG also released a study finding that a 33 mpg standard would save Oregonians $223 million annually.
"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,” the Governor said. “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."
“The
best way to break America’s oil habit and save consumers money at the
pump is to make our cars and SUVs go farther on a gallon of gasoline,”
said OSPIRG Energy Advocate Jeremiah Baumann. “Better gas mileage
standards save Oregonians money, reduce our dependence on oil, and cut
global warming pollution.”
OSPIRG
and Governor Kulongoski were joined by David Yudkin, co-owner of Hot
Lips Pizza. “Doesn’t it make sense to extend that original wisdom to
the cars we drive?” said Yudkin. “What the Governor is asking of
Congress today is rooted in respect for precious recourses, not only
gasoline but for our environment on which our economy is based and
health depends.”
As
early as this week, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on a
fuel economy bill introduced by Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) that allows the
Bush administration to re-structure the fuel economy program for
passenger cars without guaranteeing that cars will get better gas
mileage. Reps. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) plan to
introduce an amendment to the bill requiring an increase in the average
fuel economy of cars and SUVs to 33 mpg by 2016.
“The
good news is that we already have the technology to make our cars and
SUVs get 40 mpg,” said Baumann. “We need Congress to put American
know-how to work to cut oil demand and save consumers money.”
The
Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) has estimated that increasing the
fuel economy of cars and SUVs to 33 mpg by 2016 would reduce America’s
oil demand by 500,000 barrels of oil per day in 2015 and 2.1 million
barrels of oil per day in 2025. Nationwide, consumers would save at
least $19 billion at the pump in 2015 and $79 billion in 2025.
OSPIRG
also released a new study showing that if the Bush administration had
raised gas mileage in 2001 as part of its energy policy, which instead
subsidized oil and gas companies, Oregonians would be enjoying net
savings of $98 million this year. The U.S. would be consuming 500,000
fewer barrels of oil per day, avoiding 34 million tons of global
warming pollution, and Americans would be saving $8.7 billion at the
gas pump.
The
OSPIRG study also included analysis by the Union of Concerned
Scientists finding that if Congress raises gas mileage standards to 33
mpg, the U.S. would cut its oil consumption by 500,000 barrels per day
in 2015, when American consumers would be saving $15 billion annually.
The U.S. would cut its global warming pollution by 84 million tons.
