“I want to add my thanks to our distinguished panel of witnesses for participating in our hearing today.

 

“In his recent State of the Union speech, the President laid out an ambitious, but worthy, goal to reduce our consumption of gasoline by 20 percent in 10 years.  This is not the first time that the President has focused national attention on transportation energy use.  In last year’s State of the Union speech, the President focused attention on the importance of reducing our nation’s Middle East oil dependence.

 

“Our dependence on foreign oil has been growing for years.  The number of miles Americans drive has grown by about 3 percent every year since 1950.  Today, one out of every nine gallons consumed in the world today goes into American cars, trucks, and buses.

 

“More and more of the petroleum that fuels American drivers is produced abroad.  In 1960 we imported only 20 percent of our petroleum.  By 2005, 60 percent of our petroleum came from outside our borders. 

 

“I believe that it’s a mistake to pit production measures and conservation measures against each other – we need to do both.  I support policies to increase domestic petroleum and natural gas production.  And, I have come to believe that it is time for this Congress to do something to improve transportation efficiency in this country.

 

“The average fuel economy of a passenger automobile on the road today is 27.5 miles per gallon.  It’s been the same since 1985.  One reason it has been the same for so long is that the fuel economy number was actually put into the statute.  The result has been years of deadlock while we could have been making real progress as new technologies became available. 

 

“I believe that part of the solution is to give authority to set CAFÉ standards for all passenger cars to the executive branch.   This is consistent with the approach we’ve already taken for light-duty trucks.  The Secretary of Transportation should be required to set standards after balancing the need for energy security, environmental concerns, safety and cost.  But bold fuel efficiency measures must be balanced with bold production measures as well as bold initiatives to diversify our fuel supplies.  A strong energy policy is a balanced energy policy. 

 

“Today’s hearing gives us a chance to learn what technologies are available to improve vehicle efficiency, and how much energy savings we can reasonably expect from them.

 

“I support research on a broad range of vehicle technologies, including plug-in hybrids, fuel cell vehicles, and alternative fuel vehicles.  But we have a lot of work ahead to get where we want to be.  It’s going to take partnerships between the government, the automakers, and energy companies, and many other stakeholders.  And it is going to take a lot of hard work.

 

“I look forward to learning more from today’s testimony.”

 

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