The Senate passed a trimmed-back energy bill Thursday that wouldbring higher-gas mileage cars into showrooms in the coming decadeand fill their tanks with ethanol.
The measure was approved with strong bipartisan support 86-8after Democrats abandoned efforts to impose billions of dollars innew taxes on the biggest oil companies, unable by one vote toovercome a Republican filibuster against the new taxes.
The bill now goes to the House. The White House issued astatement saying President Bush will sign the legislation if itreaches his desk, as is expected.
The bill calls for the first major increase by Congress inrequired automobile fuel efficiency in 32 years, something the autocompanies have fought for two decades.
The car companies will have to achieve an industrywide average 35mile per gallon for cars, small trucks and SUVs over the next 13years, an increase of 10 mpg over what the entire fleet averagestoday.
This bill "will begin to reverse our addiction to oil. It's astep to fight global warming," said Majority Leader Harry Reid ofNevada.
Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), a longtime protector of the autoindustry that is so important to his state, called the fuel economymeasure "ambitious but achievable."
For consumers, the legislation will mean that over the next dozenyears auto companies will likely build more diesel-powered SUVs andgas-electric hybrid cars as well as vehicles that can run on 85percent ethanol. They will push engineers to develop newtechnologies to save fuel.
"Automakers can meet the new standards with today's technology,"said David Friedman of the Union of Concerned Scientists. "Cars andtrucks will be the same size and perform the same way they dotoday."
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CAR TALK
The federal rules' effect:
- 1.1 million barrels of oil a day, equal to half the PersianGulf oil imported, will be saved.
- Consumers will spend $22 billion less at the pump.
- Annual greenhouse gas emissions will dip by 200 million tons.
Source: Sen. Daniel Inouye
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