WASHINGTON – Setting up what could become the first battle for automakers in the new Congress, a group of senators plans today to renew its fight for stricter fuel economy standards.

The senators will introduce legislation requiring light trucks such as sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks to meet the same fuel economy standard as passenger cars.

The proposal from Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine and Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California would increase standards for light trucks over five years until they reach the 27.5 mile-per-gallon level mandated for passenger cars.

Nearly identical legislation failed in the last Congress after senators from auto-dependent states objected, saying it would harm American automakers and cost thousands of industry jobs.

Congressional aides say last year’s congressional inaction on fuel economy, as well as dissatisfaction with the 1.5-mpg increase in light truck fuel economy the Bush administration proposed last month, bolster the chance that the Snowe-Feinstein proposal will become law.

“The only thing we’ve seen so far is what amounts to a first step from the administration,” said Snowe spokesman Dave Lackey. “There is considerable support for improving fuel economy standards.”

Supporters of the measure say it could conserve more than 1 million barrels of oil a day and allow the United States to reduce its imports of foreign oil by 10 percent.

Aides to Sen. Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat who led opposition to the fuel-economy hike in the last Congress, said they could not comment on the measure until it had been formally introduced.

A National Academy of Sciences report issued last year said that automakers could increase the fuel economy of their vehicles with existing technologies, but that any increase could come at the cost of safety by pushing Americans toward efficient but lighter cars that do not offer as much protection in accidents.

Several automakers have already voluntarily committed themselves to boosting the efficiency of their light trucks, including Ford Motor Co., which hopes to achieve a 25 percent increase in its SUV models by 2005.

Automakers, though, oppose any congressionally ordered increase in the fuel economy standards, saying any hike should be left up to regulators at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which oversees the program.

A spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the industry’s trade group in Washington, said major differences remain between passenger cars and light trucks.

“You can’t categorize an SUV, a pickup truck or a minivan the same way you characterize a car – that’s like saying a horse is the same thing as a poodle,” said Eron Shoseck, the spokesman.

The pending 1.5-mpg fuel economy increase for light trucks is already a “formidable challenge” for the industry to meet and any further increases would be even more difficult, Shosteck said.

When Congress created the federal corporate average fuel economy program in the wake of the 1970s Mideast oil embargo, it required light trucks to obtain fewer miles per gallon than passenger cars.

At the time, SUVs and pick-up trucks were used primarily for work by contractors and farmers, so lawmakers believed that it made sense to hold light trucks to a lower standard than cars.

However, as Americans replaced passenger cars with SUVs and other light trucks, that distinction has eroded – and Feinstein and Snowe say both sets of vehicles should be held to the same standard.

“With the fact that SUVs now make up about half of all light trucks, it makes sense to reflect this change in consumer sentiment,” Lackey said.