MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US Congress approves “historic” energy efficiency bill

Companies must achieve a fuel efficiency of 6.72lts x 100kmts.

The U.S. Congress has approved a “historic” energy bill that increases U.S. fuel efficiency standards in cars and trucks. President George Bush is expected to sign the measure into law.

The bill was approved Tuesday in the House of Representatives and last week in the Senate. It is the first major required increase in vehicle efficiency in more than three decades. The measure requires automobile companies to achieve a fuel efficiency standard of 6.72 liters per 100 km by 2020. Democrats abandoned efforts to include tax incentives to families and businesses to increase their use of renewable energy while boosting taxes on oil companies by some 13 billion US dollars. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the Bush administration is pleased Congress worked together in a bipartisan way, giving the president the opportunity to sign a bill that does not include tax increases. The bill mandates the first increase in vehicle fuel economy since 1975 while boosting ethanol production and making electrical appliances more efficient. Environmental campaigners have broadly welcomed the bill, which attempts to address what President Bush has called the country's "chronic" dependence on oil. The US seeks to reduce its reliance on foreign oil imports, amid concerns about global energy security and the soaring cost of crude imports. The bill will not lead to an increase in either domestic oil or gas production, a situation which one Republican opponent of the legislation described as "lousy". The main measure in the bill is a 40% increase in the standard fuel efficiency of cars and trucks. This is expected to reduce oil demand by up to four million barrels a day by 2030 and, its supporters claim, lower motorists' costs by up to $1,000 a year. The pursuit of alternative energy sources will focus on ethanol, with production set to increase fivefold to 36 billion gallons a year by 2020. In future, the emphasis will be on developing ethanol from non-food sources such as wood chips and agricultural waste. The legislation foresees annual savings of $13 billion US dollars from the phasing out of energy-intensive light bulbs by 2014 while dishwashers, freezers and washing machines will all be required to consumer less energy. "It is groundbreaking in what it will do," Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives. More than 90 Republicans supported the bill, giving it an easy passage in the Democratic-dominated House in a 314 to 100 vote. But critics argue that its fuel conservation and production targets are not realistic and that energy costs will rise, Congressman Joe Barton describing it as a "recipe for recession". Initial efforts to include commitments on the amount of renewable energy power firms must generate were dropped after opposition from Republican members and the White House. Nevertheless the Sierra Club, an environmental group, said the bill marked a "clean break with the failed energy policies of the past".