New Fuel Economy And Emissions Standards

An Inconvenient Truth

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After a marathon week of appearances on several national news networks, please allow me to sit down, relax, and get my thoughts into a permanent record on the new fuel economy and emissions standards announced by President Obama on May 18.

The main reason for this announcement is because our elected officials are too afraid to raise fuel taxes--even though that would be an action supported by many of their constituents when the whole story is presented fairly. Don't get me wrong here, as I am no fan of new taxation, either. However, we all agree that we need to work toward a reduction in our dependence on oil, both imported and domestic. "The Bell Curve" is not the correct venue to explore the geo-political ramifications that such a reduction would incite, but rest assured that our ongoing misuse of carbon-based fuel is not the right path to a peaceful and clean future for our children.

And this is where raising fuel taxes would spur the kind of driving and purchasing behavior that Obama's announcement on the 18th will also try to deliver. Our European friends have been dealing with higher fuel taxes for years, and what is the result? A fiscal and personal incentive to drive smaller vehicles and use them more efficiently. This would lead to new revenue for our own government, which is entering a period of incredible and unprecedented deficit spending thanks to the Great Recession. Use of a full-size SUV or truck for solo drivers in daily commuting was already noted as wasteful by last year's fuel price scare. Let's hope that Obama's new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards will drive a final social nail into that coffin.

But please recall that the main reason that Obama had to put us on the CAFE path is because your representatives in D.C. feel that raising fuel taxes would be political suicide. So whose interests are they really representing?

Posted on 2009-05-26 | Permalink | |

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