Since 1985, the federally mandated mileage for automobiles has remained stationary at about 24 miles per gallon. But the introduction of sport utility vehicles and over-sized trucks, which are exempt from the standards, has increased U.S. fuel consumption and dependence on foreign oil. As part of an energy bill currently under consideration by Congress, the Senate voted on a plan offered by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and John McCain, R-Ariz., to increase fuel efficiency standards to 36 miles per gallon by 2016. The Kerry-McCain measure was eliminated from the bill in favor of a study by the National Highway Safety Administration about the impact of raising standards. The Senate also voted to exempt pickup trucks from the standards set by the study.
The bill's sponsors and supporters correctly hail the measure as both necessary for national security and smart policy for the environment. The claimed 2.5 billion barrels of oil a day the increased standards would save is enough to wean the United States of its unhealthy and risky dependence on oil imports from the Middle East. An America freer of foreign natural resource dependence will not need to prop up undemocratic, unpopular regimes such as the government of Saudi Arabia.
More U.S. military forces would be free to engage al Qaeda terrorists around the globe instead of making themselves a stationary target where their presence engenders hostile, violent reaction. Terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, a Saudi-born millionaire, cites the American troops' presence in Saudi Arabia as cause for war. While U.S. foreign policy should never bend to the demands of the butcher of U.S. citizens, noticeable American presence will enrage future zealots as well.
Furthermore, the U.S. economy will be far more resistant to wild fluctuations in oil prices set by the OPEC cartel, protecting prosperity in healthy economic times and limiting fiscal loses during tough times, such as the just-past recession. Higher fuel efficiency means more miles to the gallon, less trips to the pump and more disposable income available to American consumers. The economy will be less vulnerable to the effects of interdiction of supply lines if more is available for use by industries taken from the pool formerly used by low fuel standard automobiles.
Higher fuel standards, along with benefiting national security, are a boon to the environment as well. Aside from the decrease in automobile pollution stricter standards bring, less reliance on oil in general decreases the need to explore for new sources. Drilling for new oil deposits in the Gulf of Mexico, off the Florida coast or in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, despite techniques often touted as safe and environmentally friendly, run the risk of an oil spill irreparably damaging the local ecosystem.
Those who defeated the measure did so through a number of creative, but incorrect arguments. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., said SUVs are indispensable for soccer moms who need an extraordinary amount of space to haul their children, equipment and friends around town. Parents used to do just fine driving station wagons and minivans. Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo., didn't want to tell his fellow Missourians they could not buy an SUV because "Congress decided that would be a bad choice." Automakers would have the option to redesign SUVs so they could meet the standards. No one is attempting to make SUVs illegal.
But also, sometimes, when the American people do not exercise discipline needed for the good of the nation, Congress has the right to step in and legislate. Sometimes, but only when necessary, it's Congress' duty to act the parent and decide the proper course of action. And in this case, the Senate was right to consider the issue, and wrong to kill it.
