Media Take a Bite Out of CAFE Guidelines
Published: 8/24/2005 1:00 PM ET
Gas
Hysteria
Media Take a Bite Out of CAFE Guidelines
Government proposes new
light truck, SUV fuel standards, but media highlight critics.
The biggest news about oil today is new proposed fuel standards for light trucks, which include SUVs and minivans. Rather than focusing on major improvements to the standards, the media highlighted complaints from critics. Here are some of the latest high and low points:
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The real news:
Give August 23s NBC Nightly News credit for ferreting out the
real news about the new CAFE standards, even if they didnt
connect the dots. According to Lonnie Miller of the Polk Center
for Automotive Studies, unhappy drivers are looking at migrating
into a mid-size SUV as well as smaller passenger cars. According
to the August 24 Washington Post, the standards for light trucks
would have risen to 22.2 mpg in 2007. But under the new plan, that
newly popular category would reach 28.4 by 2011 a 28 percent
increase in just four years. Much of the media touted small
overall increases instead of that significant jump. NBCs Martin
Savidge nailed it, however, saying small SUVs would have to
improve efficiency by nine miles per gallon.
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The latest
culprits: CNNs Miles OBrien was the latest offender to claim
that we are experiencing record-setting gasoline and diesel
prices. NBCs Brian Williams mentioned the summer of record gas
prices. Washington Post Style writer David Montgomery repeated
the error claiming, New records have been set nearly every day
for the last two weeks in the Washington area However, even
Montgomery admitted later in his piece that he was wrong and just
chose to ignore the facts: Never mind the inflation-adjusted
nerds who point out that regular unleaded gas today is still
cheaper than the $3.11 it cost in todays dollars in 1981. To get
it wrong is bad enough. To get it wrong deliberately is
unfathomable.
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Environmental
extremists: Several stories quoted Sierra Club representatives
criticizing the new fuel standards. The August 24 edition of USA
Today delivered a typical quote from the organizations
representative Brendan Bell, I dont understand how the Bush
administration can look Americans in the eye, when we are paying
$2.75 a gallon and we are shackled to Middle East dictators, and
say we cant do better when we know we can. However, none of the
media explained what the Sierra Club really meant. According to
the groups Web site: The technology exists today to make all
vehicles average 40 miles per gallon fleet wide within ten years.
CNNs Lou Dobbs Tonight repeated that claim. According to Casey
Wian, Environmentalists say the technology is there to require
40-mile-per-gallon CAFE standards. And the administration is just
not willing to take that step. There was no cost mentioned to
connect with this theory, though one industry representative
estimated that even the latest changes would cost $6 billion.
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The free market:
Amidst all the talk of rising CAFE standards, none of the stories
bothered to question whether this was the right strategy. All that
was discussed was whether the standards were being increased
enough. Journalists universally ignored the lessons they
themselves were delivering that higher-priced gas would
encourage drivers to economize or drive smaller cars.
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Why are costs so
high? ABCs report also showed several reasons that gas prices
are high, including 50 cents per gallon in taxes and regulations
that mandate 17 different types of gasoline because of different
emissions standards.
