UCS activists and our allies have sent over 100,000 comments to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) urging improvements in its flawed proposal to revise fuel economy standards for light trucks (SUVs, minivans, pick-ups). Through the UCS "Extreme Auto Makeover" campaign, and campaign efforts by our allies, thousands of Americans asked the administration to  genuinely address America’s addiction to oil. Unfortunately, even with the steep increase in oil price projections from the Energy Information Administration, NHTSA announced on March 29, 2006 a minuscule change in fuel economy standards that will save less than two weeks of gasoline each year over the next two decades.

Here are some highlights from the UCS reaction:

"After the Bush administration acknowledged our oil addiction, one might have expected a slam dunk, but this is an air ball," said David Friedman, research director for the Clean Vehicles Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. "The administration squandered an important opportunity to treat our oil addiction."

The NHTSA standards would require SUVs, pickups and minivans (so-called light trucks) to increase their fuel economy by 1.8 mpg by 2011 (i.e. to 24.0 mpg in 2011), beginning with model year 2008. This is essentially a repackaged version of their August fuel economy proposal. The administration could have saved one million barrels of oil per day in 2025 if it had simply raised the new standards to 26 mpg by 2011 and applied the standards to all light trucks. This would have met 20 percent of the president's target of cutting oil imports from the Middle East by 75 percent by 2025.

The rule also included heavier SUVs and vans (medium duty passenger vehicles - MDPV) for the first time but ignored heavier pickups. If they had included heavier pickups like the Ford F-350 and Chevrolet Silverado 3500, NHTSA could have saved four times as much as they did from including MDPVs.

"Fighting America's oil addiction with these standards is like fighting lung cancer by smoking 49 cigarettes a day instead of 50," said Don MacKenzie, vehicles engineer with the Union of Concerned Scientists. "Automakers have technology on their shelves right now that could cost-effectively improve the efficiency of light trucks to 26 or 27 mpg, at least double the increase that NHTSA announced today."

You can read our full statement here.

The administration is claiming this squandered opportunity as an historic achievement. Therefore, it is vital that Congress hears from the public that we are not buying the president's spin. Congress must act now to fill the void the administration has left. Congress should reduce our oil consumption and protect our national, environmental, and economic security.