WASHINGTON - May 27 - As Americans get into their cars for Memorial Day trips they face two obstacles: high gas prices and a Bush Administration whose energy policies will make matters worse. America is facing high gas prices in large part because our increasing use of gas-guzzling light trucks and SUVs is driving demand, and OPEC is controlling the supply.

The U.S. uses 25% of the world's oil, but we sit on only 3% of the world's known oil reserves. The most effective way to save consumers money at the gas pump is to increase the fuel economy of our nation's vehicles. The technology exists today to make all new cars, trucks, and SUVs average 40 miles per gallon within ten years. If all new vehicles averaged 40 mpg, drivers would save over $2,200 in net savings at the gas pump over the life of their vehicle.

"The single biggest step to saving consumer's money at the gas pump is to make our cars and trucks go farther on a gallon of gas," said Dan Becker, Washington Director, Sierra Club Global Warming program. "The Bush administration only increases our addiction by jawboning OPEC to pump more oil."

The Bush administration's energy policy encourages U.S. oil dependence and does almost nothing to reduce our use of oil. It has opposed repeated efforts to raise fuel economy standards in Congress and has recently issued a proposal that would actually weaken existing fuel economy standards. The Bush administration has also proposed to open up more of our public lands to oil and gas drilling, including the precious Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. However, the United States cannot drill its way to energy independence. Even if we did decide to sacrifice the Arctic Refuge, the reserves would satisfy less than 2% of our daily consumption, or according to the Department of Energy, decrease imports from 62% to 60% - a short term fix that is hardly worth permanently destroying the crown jewel of our national wildlife refuge system.

"Saving money at the gas pump isn't about drilling our natural heritage," said Becker. "It's about using existing technology to drill under Detroit to make our vehicles go farther on a gallon of gas."

Raising Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards to 40 miles per gallon would cut America's dangerous dependence on oil, saving nearly 4 million barrels of oil per day by 2020, which is more oil than we currently import from the entire Persian Gulf or could ever take out of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, combined. Stronger fuel economy standards would also curb global warming emissions from our nation's vehicles and help clean up the air. With rising gas prices and a deteriorating situation in Iraq, it is more important than ever for the United States to increase the fuel economy of its vehicles.

"OPEC controls the supply of oil, and the Bush administration refuses to address demand with more efficient cars," said Becker. "Result - OPEC is in charge of America's energy policy."

###