KICKING OUR OIL ADDICTION

In the 2002 model year, fuel economy averaged 20.4 miles a gallon, the lowest since the fleet averaged 19.2 miles a gallon in 1980. Fuel economy peaked at 22.1 miles a gallon in 1988 but has mostly fallen since. I'd say this is rather pathetic, given our technology. And the Bush administration, instead of supporting legislation to regulate fuel-efficiency in cars and SUVs, is in favor of hydrogen powered fuel-cells. Great idea, but strategic -- this technology can't be mass produced for a number of years. The president looks great, but doesn't have to do anything. Win-win solution.

"We have 30 models that get over 30 miles per gallon, but the top 10 most fuel-efficient vehicles are less than 2 percent of sales," [the VP for communications at the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the auto industry's chief lobbying group] said. "I would call this report a consumer sales report. It shows what consumers are buying." (This logic doesn't make any sense to me. If most of your "cool" cars are gas-guzzlers, are consumers dictating sales of fuel-efficient cars or are you?)

But CHECK out this press release! The Detroit Project, founded by Arianna Huffington teamed up with NRDC's Break the Chain project and created TV ads highlighting our dependence on oil.

"America needs a line of cars that can get us to work in the morning without sending us to war in the afternoon," said Huffington. "If today's vehicles averaged 40 mpg, we would save more oil than we import each year from the Persian Gulf. We have the technology to start fixing the problem, but the Big Three in Detroit and their friends in Congress and the White House are blocking the road."