Congress OKs fuel-economy jump

WASHINGTON — It was in response to the early 1970s energy crisis and gasoline lines that Congress in 1975 directed automakers to improve the fuel efficiency of their cars.

That wouldn't happen again for more than three decades — not until Tuesday.

Congress sent to President Bush a truncated, although no less dramatic, energy bill that will require an increase in the fuel efficiency of cars, SUVs and small trucks by 40 percent to 35 miles per gallon by 2020.

President Bush will sign the legislation at the Energy Department on Wednesday.

The energy bill, which also calls for a huge increase in the use of ethanol as a motor fuel and requires new appliance efficiency standards, was approved by the House 314-100 after clearing the Senate last week, 86-8.

"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."

In a significant shift to spur increased demand for nonfossil fuels, the bill requires refiners to use 36 billion gallons of ethanol by 2022, a six-fold increase over today's ethanol production. And it imposes new energy efficiency standards for refrigerators, dishwashers and other appliances as well as lighting, federal buildings and construction of commercial buildings.

While some GOP lawmakers criticized the bill for failing to address the need for more domestic oil and natural gas production, 95 Republicans 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. "We're 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.