Baby steps won’t cure U.S. addiction to oil

Many took it as a pleasant surprise when President Bush admitted in his State of the Union speech that America is “addicted to oil.”

As interventions go, however, last week’s announcement of new federal fuel-efficiency standards for sport-utility vehicles, pickup trucks and minivans was a disappointment. Rather than a serious attempt to address an addiction, it was akin to advising an alcoholic to just cut back on the booze a little.

The Transportation Department said last week that by 2011, light truck fleets must average 24.1 miles per gallon, a measly 1.9 mpg more than the 2007 target. Some larger SUVs that had been exempt before will be covered by the new standards, but the largest pickup trucks won’t because they’re considered work trucks rather than vehicles used for everyday driving.

In all, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said, the new standards will save 10.7 billion gallons of gasoline. If that sounds like a lot, consider that Americans burned about 140 billions gallons last year alone, meaning that over five years, the new rules will only save about 25 days’ worth.

We’ve got to do better than that. A lot better. Currently, the United States imports about half of the 20 million barrels of oil it consumes every day. Analysts predict that if nothing changes, in 20 years 68 percent of our supply will come from abroad.

Our insatiable thirst for oil is a huge security issue because it makes us vulnerable to outside threats. Some analysts estimate that if terrorists were to attack a large Saudi refinery, they could shut down 10 percent of the world’s oil supply, sending prices through the roof and ravaging the world economy. And new threats continue to emerge in the Middle East – Iran tested a new high-speed torpedo Sunday that, if things become more unstable, could make oil shipments harder and more dangerous to protect.

Some positive steps have been taken, tax credits for hybrid cars and the development of alternative fuels among them. In Washington, the Legislature has given biodiesel production a jump start. Efforts like those should be accelerated.

But higher mileage standards need to be a bigger part of the solution. Modern engines are much more fuel efficient than years ago, but the weight of bigger passenger trucks and SUVs has undermined the benefit.

Our addiction to oil has gotten worse. To cure it, we need more than the baby steps that were announced last week.

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