Senate Bill Would Raise SUV, Light-Truck Fuel Efficiency.

A Senate bill that was recently introduced would require sport-utility vehicles to meet the same fuel-efficiency targets by 2011 that passenger vehicles do today. The bill would require SUVs and other vehicles in the "light truck" category to raise their average fuel efficiency to a minimum 27.5 miles a gallon by the 2011 model year.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said passing the bill would be "the single most important step the United States can take to limit dependence on foreign oil and better protect our environment." Feinstein introduced the bill with Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and cited 11 other cosponsors. Under the current corporate average fuel economy - or CAF - program, SUVs and other light trucks must meet an efficiency target of at least 20.7 miles a gallon, while passenger vehicles face a requirement of at least 27.5 miles a gallon.

With SUVs' share of the auto market growing rapidly during the past decade, environmental groups and some lawmakers have called for end to this so- called SUV loophole. The senators' proposed increase, which would be phased in during the 2008-11 model years, goes further than a proposal last month by President George W. Bush's administration to raise light truck fuel efficiency requirements by 1.5 miles a gallon in the 2005-07 model years.

Feinstein and Snowe, who introduced a similar bill in 2001, say their plan would eventually save the country about 1 million barrels a day in oil consumption, or nearly 5 percent of current U.S. demand.

During last year's debate on a larger energy bill that eventually died in conference, the Senate rejected a more ambitious proposal to require both cars and light trucks to reach a CAF of 36 miles per gallon by 2012. That proposal was cosponsored by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who this year heads the committee responsible for CAF-related legislation.