Congress OKs increase in auto fuel economy

WASHINGTON – Congress by a wide margin approved the first increase in automobile fuel economy in 32 years Tuesday, and President Bush plans to sign the legislation quickly, accepting the mandates on the auto industry.

The energy bill, boosting mileage by 40 percent to 35 miles per gallon, passed the House 314-100 and now goes to the White House, after the Senate’s approval last week.

In a statement, the White House said Bush would sign the legislation at the Energy Department on Wednesday.

In a dramatic shift to spur increased demand for nonfossil fuels, the bill also requires a sixfold increase in ethanol use to 36 billion gallons a year by 2022, a boon to farmers. It requires new energy efficiency standards for an array of appliances, lighting and commercial and government buildings.

“This is a choice between yesterday and tomorrow” on energy policy, declared House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who was closely involved in crafting the legislation. “It’s groundbreaking in what it will do.”

“The bill we passed today will help end our reliance on foreign oil, save money for Maine families, and help fight global warming,” said Rep. Michael Michaud, D-Maine.

While some GOP lawmakers criticized the bill for failing to address the need for more domestic oil and natural gas production, 95 GOP lawmakers joined Democrats in support of the bill.

Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada acknowledged that they didn’t get all they wanted – unable to push through a tax package that would have rolled back $13.5 billion in tax breaks for oil companies and used the money to help spur wind, solar and biomass energy development and conservation programs.

The House passed the tax provisions, but the Senate fell one vote short of getting it through under threat of a presidential veto and a GOP filibuster. “Were going to be back and get the vote quicker than you think,” Reid said at a news conference with Pelosi.

But Democrats said those shortcomings shouldn’t take away from the importance of the approved bill.

“This legislation is a historic turning point in energy policy,” said Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland because it will cut demand for foreign oil and promote nonfossil fuels that will cut greenhouse gases linked to global warming.

It increases energy efficiency “from light bulbs to light trucks,” said Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., a longtime protector of the auto industry who was key to a compromise on vehicle efficiency increases.

Many Republicans denounced the Democratic-crafted bill for failing to push for more domestic production of fossil fuels and for mandates some GOP lawmakers warned will not be possible.

“What we have here is a mandatory conservation bill,” said Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas. He argued that the auto fuel efficiency requirements and the huge increase in ethanol use might not prove to be technologically or economically possible.

Democrats disagreed. The legislation takes measured and concrete steps that are achievable, said Dingell.

The Senate passed the bill last week after discarding billions of dollars in higher taxes on oil companies and a solar and wind power mandate that opponents said would raise electric rates in the Southeast. President Bush and Senate Republicans opposed those measures.

The bill requires a massive increase in the production of ethanol for motor fuels, outlining a ramp-up of ethanol use from the roughly 6 billion gallons this year to 36 billion gallons by 2022. After 2015, the emphasis would be on expanded use of cellulosic ethanol, made from such feedstock as switchgrass and wood chips, with two thirds of the ethanol – 21 billion gallons a year – from such noncorn sources.

However, commercially viable production of cellulosic ethanol has yet to be proved and some Republicans have argued that the new requirements could be impossible to meet and may raise corn prices and lessen food supplies.

The bill allows for a waiver if producers are unable to meet the federal requirement for cellulosic ethanol, which rises dramatically after 2015. “We have every confidence that we can meet the target,” said Matt Hartwig, a spokesman for the Renewable Fuels Association, which represents ethanol producers.

The bill requires improved efficiency standards for lighting, commercial and government buildings, and appliances such as refrigerators, dishwashers and freezers. It also tells the Energy Department to issue efficiency standards more quickly. Light bulb efficiency will have to increase 70 percent over today’s most widely used bulbs by 2020.