Bush’s SUV policy manages to get worse

August 16, 2005

When it comes to Hummers and other heavy SUVs, the Bush administration’s policies are already deeply flawed. In 2003, as part of the third White House tax-cut plan, for example, Bush allowed business owners and the self-employed to deduct the cost of large SUVs (weighing 6,000 pounds or more) up to $100,000. The price for a Hummer, which gets about 10 miles to the gallon, could therefore be deducted altogether, despite the fact that it’s about the least fuel-efficient vehicle an American can buy.

And now, just a week after Bush signed an energy bill that he claimed will lessen the country’s dependence on foreign oil, we learn that the White House is now poised to drop a proposal to make large SUVs meet previously established fuel-efficiency standards.

The Bush administration is expected to abandon a proposal to extend fuel economy regulations to include Hummer H2’s and other huge sport utility vehicles, auto industry and other officials say.

The proposal was among a number of potential strategies outlined by the administration in 2003 to overhaul mileage requirements for light trucks — sport utility vehicles, pickup trucks and minivans. It had been seen by industry officials as likely to be adopted. […]

Under the Bush administration plan, about half a dozen size classes will be determined by the vehicle’s length and width. Instead of an overall mileage requirement for the total fleet of light trucks a manufacturer sells in a model year, makers will have to meet some kind of target or average within each size class. As a result of the proliferating categories, it will probably become more difficult to predict fuel economy trends.

“It’s an invitation to game the system and increase our oil dependence and the pollution that results,” said Dan Becker, a global warming strategist at the Sierra Club. “The Bush administration is failing to use the most powerful weapon in its arsenal to save people money at the pump.”

These vehicles are getting bigger, heavier, and faster — while also getting fewer miles to the gallon. And the White House plans to keep it that way.

Last week, when Bush signed his energy bill into law, he said he was finally establishing a “national energy policy,” which was necessary because “our consumers are paying more for the price of their gasoline.” He even managed to say it with a straight face.

Gee? Doesn’t BUSH have connections to big oil? What a surprise he wants more oil to be used.
Bush and his buddies are already rich, they are just getting richer.

  • You forget one key fact. Aside from the environmental impact and the gas-guzzling, SUVs and Hummers are incredibly dangerous to pedestrians and people in regular cars. If you get hit by an SUV, you are something like 7 times more likely to die than if hit by a another car. I’m sorry, but that makes it personal. SUV drivers are assholes. Hummer drivers are pure scum.

  • Don’t you still kind of wonder about the details of that secret energy committee back in the early days of the Bush administration, the details of which have never been released to the public? In fact, I believe that the administration even won a Freedom of Information Act suit requesting that the details of those meetings be released.

    So, here we are 4.5 years later with a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline sitting above the once unthinkable level of $2.50, and even above $3.00 in some areas. Kind of makes one wonder what was discussed and what was decided in those meetings way back when. Clearly, it must have been how best to fleece the American public and line the pockets of Big Oil.

    As my grandfather used to say many years ago, “Where will it end?”

  • Good comments all. I drive a Subaru Legacy and pray to God I don’t get hit by one of these monstrosities. Already got rear-ended (at low speed) by a Ford F350 pickup that totalled my Jetta a few years back.

    Anyhow, check out this article from the Houston Chronicle:
    http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/energy/3309530

    Here are some of the choice comments, please pass them around!

    “At the Three Amigos marina near Seabrook, the bigger the boat, the smaller the bite from the gasoline price of $3.07 per gallon.

    ““If you can’t afford the gas, you can’t afford the boat,” said Tommy Moore, of Houston, who used about 1,400 gallons of gas to bring his Hatteras down from Virginia. “The gas is the least expensive part.”

    ““I guess we’re helping the Texas economy,” Moore said. “Now, let’s go burn some gas,” he told his boating companions.

    ““I love these prices. The higher, the better,” said Frank Gafke, of Galveston, a senior service leader for Halliburton on the Texas Gulf Coast.
    Gafke said Halliburton’s profits – and his savings account – had increased markedly since fuel prices began rising.

    ““Our dad is in the oil business. The more the price per barrel, the better it is for business,” Anthony Scruggs said.”

    Oh lovely. The haves get more (and crow about it) while the have nots continue to get scr*wed. :-p

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