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Ärende: Press Release (0705144) for Mon, 2007 May 14
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President Bush Discusses CAFE and Alternative Fuel Standards
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For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary May 14, 2007

President Bush Discusses CAFE and Alternative Fuel Standards Rose Garden

˙ /news/releases/2007/05/20070514-4.wm.v.html ˙˙White House News

˙˙˙˙˙ Fact Sheet: Twenty in Ten: Strengthening Energy Security and
Addressing Climate Change ˙˙˙˙˙ Executive Order: Cooperation Among Agencies
in Protecting the Environment with Respect to Greenhouse Gas Emissions From
Motor Vehicles, Nonroad Vehicles, and Nonroad Engines ˙˙˙˙˙ In Focus:
Energy

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

ON CAFE AND ALTERNATIVE FUEL STANDARDS

Rose Garden

1:21 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all for coming. Good afternoon. I just finished a
meeting with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency,
Secretaries of Transportation and Agriculture, and the Deputy Secretary of
Energy. Thank you all for being here.

We discussed one of the most serious challenges facing our country: our
nation's addiction to oil and its harmful impact on our environment. The
problem is particularly acute in the transportation sector. Oil is the
primary component of gasoline and diesel, and cars and trucks that run on
these fuels emit air pollution and greenhouse gases.

Our dependence on oil creates a risk for our economy, because a supply
disruption anywhere in the world could drive up American gas prices to even
more painful levels. Our dependence on oil creates a threat to America's
national security, because it leaves us more vulnerable to hostile regimes,
and to terrorists who could attack oil infrastructure.

For all these reasons, America has a clear national interest in reducing
our dependence on oil. Over the past six years, my administration has
provided more than $12 billion for research into alternative sources of
energy. I'd like to thank the Congress for its cooperation in appropriating
these monies. We now have reached a pivotal moment where advances in
technology are creating new ways to improve energy security, strengthen
national security, and protect the environment.

To help achieve all these priorities, I set an ambitious goal in my State
of the Union: to cut America's gasoline usage by 20 percent over the next
10 years. I call this goal 20-in-10, and I have said -- sent to Congress a
proposal that would meet it in two steps: First, this proposal will set a
mandatory fuel standard that requires 35 billion gallons of renewable and
other alternative fuels by 2017. That's nearly five times the current
target.

Second, the proposal would continue our efforts to increase fuel
efficiency. My administration has twice increased fuel economy standards
for light trucks. Together, these reforms would save billions of gallons of
fuel and reduce net greenhouse gas emissions without compromising jobs or
safety.

My proposal at the State of the Union will further improve standards for
light trucks and take a similar approach to automobiles. With good
legislation, we could save up to 8.5 billion gallons of gasoline per year
by 2017, and further reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks.

Last month, the Supreme Court ruled that the EPA must take action under the
Clean Air Act regarding greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles. So
today, I'm directing the EPA and the Department of Transportation, Energy,
and Agriculture to take the first steps toward regulations that would cut
gasoline consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles,
using my 20-in-10 plan as a starting point.

Developing these regulations will require coordination across many
different areas of expertise. Today, I signed an executive order directing
all our agencies represented here today to work together on this proposal.
I've also asked them to listen to public input, to carefully consider
safety, science, and available technologies, and evaluate the benefits and
costs before they put forth the new regulation.

This is a complicated legal and technical matter, and it's going to take
time to fully resolve. Yet it is important to move forward, so I have
directed members of my administration to complete the process by the end of
2008. The steps I announced today are not a substitute for effective
legislation. So my -- members of my Cabinet, as they begin the process
toward new regulations, will work with the White House, to work with
Congress, to pass the 20-in-10 bill.

When it comes to energy and the environment, the American people expect
common sense, and they expect action. The policies I've laid out have got a
lot of common sense to them. It makes sense to do what I proposed, and
we're taking action, by taking the first steps toward rules that will make
our economy stronger, our environment cleaner, and our nation more secure
for generations to come.

Thank you for your attention.

END 1:27 P.M. EDT

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