Obama, Biden and Colleagues Push for Higher Fuel Economy
The Detroit Free Press reports that Senator Barack Obama has introduced a bill to increase fuel efficiency for cars and light trucks by one mpg annually:
Cosponsors on the bill are Richard Lugar, R-Ind.; Joseph Biden, D-Del; Gordon Smith R-Ore.; Jeff Bingaman D-N.M.; Tom Harkin, D-Iowa; Norm Coleman, R-Minn., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill.
"It is clear that the Achilles heel of the most powerful country on Earth is the oil we import and cannot live without," Obama said in a statement, noting that Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden have advocated attacking oil infrastructure to disrupt American society.Having given oil companies the energy bill it wanted, our federal government woke up to discover that Americans don't like paying more than $3 a gallon for gas. Promoting fuel economy won't bring down the price of gas, but it will help provide citizens a better range of options for buying efficient vehicles.
The Alliance for Automobile Manufacturers, the industry trade group that includes General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., DaimlerChrysler AG and Toyota Motor Corp., said it opposes the proposal because the auto industry is rolling out fuel-efficient technologies as fast as it can.
Cosponsors on the bill are Richard Lugar, R-Ind.; Joseph Biden, D-Del; Gordon Smith R-Ore.; Jeff Bingaman D-N.M.; Tom Harkin, D-Iowa; Norm Coleman, R-Minn., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill.
posted by Tom Noyes at 12:58 PM
4 Comments:
And speaking of energy independence, maybe Biden et al could find out why the Defense Department continues to block the construction of all new wind farms.
Actually, increasing fuel efficiency could bring down the price of gas. Decreased demand should lower prices.
Good point Paul. I missed that one.
However, I think it's more likely that increased efficiency will slow the continuing trend of higher prices.
Yeah, obviously all economic statements about the effects of a change in one factor are with the implicit statement "all other factors being constant." A more accurate statement probably would ahve been for me to say that prices would be lower than they otherwise would.
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