Jim Little
English 101
Mr. Lovin
08/30/2008
A Closer Look: Government Mandated Fuel Standards
The Government mandated fuel standards topic was chosen to give you, the viewing public an informative view on the subject. Perhaps offer insight on the topic, expose reasons why it exists, and look at why fuel standards are an issue in a free society. Meaning if one wants to spend $1000.00 for fuel getting 2 mpg pulling ones boat across the country with a Hummer, "tenement on wheels" model, that's ones choice, right? So then, what about this fuel standards law?
The actual law can be found under US CODE: Title 49 U.S. Code, Chapter 329 - Automotive Fuel Economy: The law is encompassed by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) bill signed into law by President Gerald Ford on December 22, 1975.
Who is this all powerful, almighty overseer of fuel efficiency that mandates the mpg my vehicle is capable of achieving? The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration set (NHTSA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were the branches of Government charged with this endeavor.
Efficiency mandate for passenger cars today is 27.5 mpg while the standard for light trucks today is 22.2mpg [1]. The original standards were 18 mpg for cars and (17.2 mpg for 2-wheel drive models; 15.8 mpg for 4-wheel drive) for light trucks up to 6,000 pounds.
The law these two fine branches conceived was proudly named "Corporate Average Fuel Economy" (CAFE) [2]. This law was first enacted by Congress in 1975 with the purpose of reducing energy consumption by way of increasing fuel economy of cars and light trucks in the wake of the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo. It was intended to improve the average fuel economy of cars and light trucks.
Can you guess what the average mph was for a, let's say a 1976 Ford F150? Compare that to the 16 mpg an F150 from 2006 is rated at. We well compare the mpg of a modern Ford truck in comparison to a Ford truck of yesteryear.
The best information gathered on the mpg for a 1976 F150 is as follows.
digitalbrownshirt. Blog page. 17 February 2007
< http://digitalbrownshirt.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html >
Mine was cream and brown. It had a 390 and
a C-6 tranny. The old girl needed a little restoration,
but I really didn't have the time or space to do it. It was
probably one of the prettiest "stock" '76 F-150's I've
ever seen and it ran great. It also only got about 10 miles
per gallon.
The blog owners name "digital brown shirts" leads to the assumption he is a UPS employee and knows trucks, which would make him a creditable source. Or he might have relation to Larry the Cable Guy, there-by making him totally unreliable and a little scary. To make an assumption about our new friend, the ''C-6 tranny'' mentioned is probably a reference to the transmission, and not some personal issue digital brown shirt might be struggling with. Also 10mpg is assumable the average mpg, absent was information as to if the vehicle was hauling manure of any sort.
How did fuel efficiency standard come into existence? The NHTSA and the EPA were tasked by Congress to conceive a fuel efficiency law. On a cold wintry day in Washington DC., in the year of 1975 Congress accepted the two branches offspring and introduced the CAFE law into existence. The two groups were given four simple yet profound guidelines to adhere too, and those I am now honored to resent to you.
(1) Technological feasibility;
(2) Economic practicability;
(3) Effect of other standards on fuel economy; and
(4) Need of the nation to conserve energy [3]
With those 4 guidelines, 19 words, 4 numbers, and various punctuation history was made.
Why? Why was efficiency in fuel even questioned? Well that my friends has to do with our oil cartel brethren from Southwest Asia. The following is a brief history on the "1973 Arab Oil Embargo" The 1973 oil crisis began on October 17, 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting (OAPEC) (OPEC plus Egypt and Syria) announced, as a result of the on going Yom Kippur War, that they would no longer ship oil to nations that had supported Israel in its conflict with Syria, Egypt, and Iraq. Those nations were the United States, its allies in Western Europe, and Japan [3].
Now 35 years later, I'm sure OAPEC regrets they embargoed the United States and it's allies and certainly suffers from our Government mandated fuel standards even today. I say with sarcasm.
Final question. In a free society why fuel standards? This is because congress felt it would make us as a nation less dependent on foreign oil, there by leaving the United States less vulnerable to castration by the foreign oil cartel and the countries that belong to it. That's it! That is what fuel efficiency standards where all about when initiated.
Today in addition to reasoning our forefathers had for introducing fuel efficiency mandates there another major problem that efficiency laws could help solve, the American economy.
There are many things that are going on with vehicles, fuel economy, Governments, auto manufacturers, and consumers. The more I think about it, the more I realize about it, and the more complex it gets. We have governments that make behind the scene deals to keep oil at a specific levels. We have auto maker lobbyist who want to sell us hugh gas guzzlers (they make more money on Hummers than they do a Ford Focus). We have Americans who have always wanted the fashion statement of the bigger vehicles but are now starting to shift to better gas mileage vehicles. Maybe we do need the Government to stand in with economy standards to save us from foreign dependency, ourselves, and the auto manufacturers . However we need REAL standards that make REAL gains.
Lastly. We are not going to be made safe by way of digital brown shirt's "pretty tranny" 10 mpg fuel economy or today's 2009 HUMMER H3 SUV ALPHA'S 13/16 mpg [4]. Over a 35-year time span that is simply not good enough. We do need to cut foreign dependence on oil, no question. OPEC has the United States over a barrel, pun intended. The United States needs to use technology and produce technology to get away from fossil fuels all together. That is simple fact.
References
1. < http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/cafe/overview.htm >
2. < http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/cafe/overview.htm >
3. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_oil_crisis >
4. < http://autos.yahoo.com/hummer_h3_suv/ >
