Corporate Average Fuel Economy

Floor Speech

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Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, there is a proposal by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, often coupled with EPA as well on this topic, regarding corporate average fuel economy. This is a standard that was developed many years ago in order to increase the fuel efficiency of automobiles and trucks sold in America.

They have been cranking up that standard over the years, including a giant leap during the Obama era, where the manufacturers basically came into hearings and acquiesced to these really far-reaching standards they would have. This basically means the fleet of vehicles that the manufacturers would sell has to meet a certain level of average miles per gallon for cars and for light trucks.

Years ago, when it was first established, these were within reach, with work, with new technology, with the efforts modern manufacturers were making. During the Obama era they wanted to raise it from the ultimate goal of, I believe, 27 miles per gallon by X year to 55 miles per gallon by, I believe, 2025 at the time. Think about that a minute, 55 miles per gallon. This is before any of this electric car mess we are talking about right now being forced upon consumers.

How many cars do you know of today that get 55 miles per gallon that are not electric assist or electric in total, which gets, I guess, infinite miles per gallon in that sense? Now, the electricity still comes from somewhere, whether it is a coal plant, a natural gas plant, or a windmill that runs only when the wind blows or a solar plant that is taking up many hundreds of acres of land that only works when it is daylight or not cloudy or rainy or snow covering the solar panels, but I digress a bit.

Basically, during the Obama era they wanted to double it to 54. There are not a lot of cars that most people want to drive day in and day out that get 54, 55 miles per gallon. Indeed, right now, the fleet, when you average trucks and cars, at this moment is about 26.4 miles per gallon across the board. This is after some years of fuel efficiency since this first came out. Consumers have voted for what they want. They vote with their wallets, and that is where the average is right now.

Some folks want a high-mileage car for their commute or that is what they use every day, or what have you. Some folks want electric cars. They think they are being part of an ecological solution. However, a lot of Americans have shown already that they don't want to have electric cars forced upon them, the EVs. Indeed, we are seeing the manufacturers, after all this enthusiasm, the CEOs coming out and saying, Oh, it is the wave, it is the future; they are finding that after an initial jolt of people buying these vehicles, that market has more or less become saturated for this moment.

It has taken a lot of incentives, a lot of government money thrown around to help manufacturers put these out, and then giant incentives to buyers to buy these electric cars. Now we have the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration trying yet again to push even harder on these fuel standards to be what might take 58 miles per gallon to reach the goals that they set out.

They say ``our'' goals. Whose goals are these? This is government, this is not people's goals. You are going to be even availed less choice of vehicle to drive and use, and it has shown by sales. People are less inclined to want to buy an electric vehicle unless they are forced to. They like internal combustion engines.

What has not really been given a whole lot of credit is that in the last 30, 40, 50 years there has been an incremental gain. When electronic fuel injection really started hitting in the 1990s on more and more, and pretty much all vehicles, the efficiency jumped up as far as MPG; it improved. Emissions dramatically improved, as well. However, nobody really gives credit for that.

It is like, oh, no, that doesn't count because we have the California Air Resources Board in California just dreaming up a new regulation every month because that is what they do. They just grind them out. Other States follow along blindly and say, oh, let's be like California, the so-called progressive States. We find out that we are going to have fewer choices. We find out that we are going to have an issue where people can't buy what they need.

If a person needs an F-150, F-250 truck to do their job, it is not going to be solved by buying four Priuses, okay? Other people just like what they like. I personally am a car enthusiast. I like a Mustang with a V-8. It feels good, and it is fun to drive. I don't want that taken away from me or even the people who drive Camaros. They may not have as good a taste. I am kidding.

It is a deal where the car enthusiasts have this thing they like to do together, whether it is a rivalry, but it all works together, car shows, the whole thing. That is an important part of Americana, including politicians who like to ride in these cars in parades. Who doesn't like a 1972 Cadillac convertible to use in a parade? No, I am going to go back to using my Prius or acting like I am later on.

This corporate average fuel economy is going to take away choices that people want, that people can afford. This forced mandate of electric vehicles by NHTSA is basically what they are doing here. They are not even supposed to be using electric vehicles in calculating the corporate average fuel economy standard, yet they are sneaking that in there in this proposal. They take away consumer choice via this.

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