WASHINGTON - October 17 - "Today’s U.S. Environmental Protection Agency annual Fuel Economy Guide documents that most automakers are failing to use gas saving technology to cut oil addiction, global warming and gas costs. It also shows that some auto companies and the Bush administration are blowing smoke when they tout E 85 ethanol as a solution to oil dependence and global warming.

"The report provides official fuel economy information for all but the heaviest model year 2007 cars, SUVs and other light trucks. In many classes of vehicles--from small cars to SUVs--there is an enormous gap between the most efficient vehicle and the average vehicle. For instance, this model year’s most efficient SUV is the Ford Escape hybrid, which gets an estimated 34 miles per gallon combined city/highway fuel economy. Compared to the average SUV which gets around 21 miles combined city/highway, the hybrid Escape will consume nearly 2,000 fewer gallons of gasoline and release 30 tons less heat-trapping global warming pollution. Even a segment competitor, such as the Hyundai Santa Fe, gets significantly lower fuel economy--23 mpg city/highway--compared to the hybrid Escape.

"The best in class vehicles demonstrate that the auto industry has the technology to make vehicles get better mileage. But the low fuel economy average shows that auto companies fail to put that technology in most of their cars and light trucks. Instead of putting this technology to work, the auto industry continues to oppose any effort to increase fuel economy standards. As a result, the average fuel economy of new vehicles sold in the United States gets the lowest mileage since the 1980s.

"Making our cars and light trucks go farther on a gallon of gas is the biggest single step we can take to saving money at the gas pump, curbing global warming, and cutting America’s oil dependence. Taking this step would save 4 million barrels of oil per day - more than the U.S. currently imports from the entire Persian Gulf and could ever get out of the Arctic Refuge, combined. President Bush has the authority to make significant increases in federal fuel economy standards. While EPA Administrator Johnson claimed in today’s press release that President Bush is, "investing in energy innovations and bringing breakthroughs in fuel efficiency from the labs to the streets," the reality is quite different. In its six years in office, this administration has only proposed increasing light truck fuel economy standards by 2.4 miles per gallon by 2011--that is a mere 0.3 miles per gallon per year and only for light trucks.

"Today’s report also sheds light on the EPA’s efforts to improve the fuel economy window labels for new vehicles. This effort is intended to provide consumers with better fuel economy estimates when they shop for a new vehicle. However, EPA is unlikely to include any new labeling requirements for "flexible-fuel vehicles" (FFVs)--vehicles that can, but rarely do, run on ethanol--even though today’s report demonstrates that consumers will get significantly lower fuel economy when operating FFVs, resulting in higher fuel costs and questionable environmental benefits when running on E 85. Since the Big Three are aggressively pushing FFVs as environmentally responsible vehicles, it is important that consumers are given accurate information. That is why the Sierra Club, along with colleague organizations, has petitioned EPA to address this problem by including specific labeling requirements for FFVs in its upcoming rulemaking.

"Accurate consumer information on FFVs is particularly important because despite the auto industry’s public relations hype, 99 percent of the time these vehicles run exclusively on gasoline, according to a previous EPA report. That’s because only a few hundred of the nation’s 176,000 gas stations serve E 85. In fact, Department of Energy data indicates that nationwide, there is only 4.5 gallons of E 85 for each FFV on the road. Since they can’t fill up on E 85, FFV owners end up running their vehicles on gasoline, even though automakers receive fuel economy credits for producing the vehicles under the assumption that they operate 50 percent of the time on ethanol.

"It is time for automakers to build cars, trucks, and SUVs that go farther on a gallon of gas. Today’s report makes it clear that most automakers need to shift from ‘reverse’ to ‘forward’ by putting more efficient vehicles on the road. If they do, we’ll all breathe easier. If they don’t, American auto makers are likely to fall further behind their foreign competition."

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