PHILADELPHIA — Police say a Philadelphia man is charged with murder after allegedly shooting a neighbor in a dispute over dog waste.WASHINGTON – Demanding higher mileage from cars and light trucks sold in the U.S. will cut dependence on imported oil, Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., said Tuesday in becoming one of the first congressional Republicans to publicly support the Obama administration’s new requirements.
Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., who has opposed tougher mileage standards in the past because of the potential harm to the auto industry, said the new rules might help the economy, including Indiana’s automotive base.
“The concerns I would have had about steps like this hurting the industry, well, the industry is already in a very bad way,” Bayh said. “The worst has already happened. … Their traditional way of doing business has led to bankruptcy or virtual bankruptcy.”
Lugar said requiring vehicles to get more miles from the gasoline they consume has “never been a perfect solution, but I have consistently supported (requirements) because they have been proven necessary to drive incremental development of fuel-efficient technology.”
Joined in the White House Rose Garden by leaders of the auto industry and labor, as well as government officials and key national and state political leaders, President Obama said the agreement that once would have been “considered impossible” was a “harbinger of a change in the way business is done in Washington.”
“As a result of this agreement,” Obama said, “we will save 1.8 billion barrels of oil over the lifetime of the vehicles sold in the next five years. And at a time of historic crisis in our auto industry, this rule provides the clear certainty that will allow these companies to plan for a future in which they are building the cars of the 21st century.”
He said the new rules amounted to removing 177 million cars from the roads over the next 6 1/2 years.
The program covers model year 2012 to model year 2016 and requires an average fuel economy standard for cars and light trucks of 35.5 miles per gallon in 2016.
The current standard is 25 mpg. The rules require cars to get 39 mpg by 2016 and light trucks to get 30 mpg.
California has been arguing for permission to set higher miles-per-gallon rules. The agreement sets a national standard, which members of the auto industry prefer because it provides uniformity.
Lugar comes at his support from a national security perspective. If cars and trucks consume less fuel, he says, the U.S. will have to import less oil.
“Energy security is national security, and there is no more important energy goal than dramatically reducing our dependence on foreign oil,” he said in a statement released by his office.
“Oil is a magnet for conflict. It puts American troops in harm’s way and ties the hands of our diplomats. It drains our economy of billions of dollars, and burning oil damages the environment in which we live.”
Lugar, who partnered with Obama on several energy security bills when Obama was a senator, said he hopes the president will require all new vehicles using gasoline engines to be capable of using biofuels.
Lugar said he strongly supports government incentives for biofuels, electric vehicles and other innovative technologies “that can propel America’s fleet beyond the fuel economy targets announced today.”
Bayh said requiring vehicles to go farther on less gas will help consumers’ pocketbooks if gas prices rise again and will help the auto industry as the demand for the more fuel-efficient cars and trucks increases.
“We may be making a virtue out of necessity,” he said, “but it is a virtue nonetheless.”
Automakers expressed their support, largely because of the national standard that would short-circuit states’ attempts to set their own emission standards that can be met only by increasing the mileage vehicles get.
“We’re all agreeing to work together on a national program,” said Dave McCurdy, president and CEO of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.
Administration officials said consumers were going to pay an extra $700 anyway for mileage standards that had already been approved.
The Obama plan adds $600 more to the price of a vehicle, a senior administration official said, bringing the total additional cost to $1,300 by 2016.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
