HEAVY WEATHER AND LIGHT TRUCKS
Each year that the United States fails to take action to reduce its production of greenhouse gases that produce global warming, we come closer to driving over an environmental cliff. The surface temperature of Lake Superior was 20 degrees above normal last summer, pushing plankton 25 feet deeper in search of cooler waters and threatening a crash of the Great Lakes ecosystem. Forecasters predict more frequent storms and floods could shut down the New York City subway system, submerge one-third of the state of Louisiana, and turn the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC, into an island. Six years ago, the International Red Cross assisted less than half a million people with natural disasters; last year it was more than 5.5 million.
The single biggest step we could take to reduce the threat of global warming would be to increase the fuel efficiency of the 125 million cars and 65 million light trucks and vans on our roads. Federal law currently requires automakers to produce a fleet with an overall efficiency of 27.5 mpg for cars and 20.7 mpg for light trucks. According to the Sierra Club, pushing the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards to 45 and 34 mpg, respectively, in 10 years, a technically achievable goal, would lead to a 140 million ton reduction in annual greenhouse gas emissions and a half-million ton reduction of gasoline-related hydrocarbon emissions. Consumers would also save $71 billion at the gas pump.
But every year since 1995, Congress has barred the Environmental Protection Agency from even studying the feasibility of such steps. And it has gone especially soft on SUVs and minivans, allowing them to be treated as "light trucks"--a category originally meant for pickups used mostly on farms and construction sites--even though most of them are driven by suburbanites heading to work and the mall. Not only are CAFÉ standards lower for light trucks--allowing manufacturers to build bigger, heavier vehicles--they are also allowed to spew more smog-causing nitrogen-oxides than cars and they are exempt from the federal gas-guzzler tax.
These behemoths of the road now account for nearly half of all the autos sold, and nearly all the profits of Detroit's Big Three. Ford earns as much as $14,000 on each of its 5,200 pound Expeditions and 5,600 pound Lincoln Navigators. Chrysler pockets $8,000 on each Durango it sells. The impact on driver safety has also been enormous: even though cars outnumber light trucks by two-to-one, accidents between light trucks and cars now kill more people in cars each year than other cars do.
After weeks of lobbying and grass-roots pressure, the Senate is on the verge of a debate and vote that would allow the EPA to begin the process of raising fuel efficiency standards for cars and closing the light truck loophole. Despite the looming crisis, the odds of a policy shift are all uphill: Since 1995, General Motors, Ford, DamierChrysler and the United Auto Workers_the chief opponents of any change in CAFÉ standards_have given more than $8.8 million to federal candidates and parties. Environmental PACs have been outspent by nearly 6 to 1.
At least we'll all be driving sport utility vehicles as we go over that cliff.
