She pushes for bill with tough CAFE standards; Dingell, automakers’ advocate, will try to work with her

David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday she will push to get a vote on energy legislation — including controversial new vehicle emissions standards — next week, before Congress goes home for its Thanksgiving recess.

With record-high oil prices keeping gas prices above $3 a gallon, automakers face a rough road in winning concessions to the aggressive fuel economy measures under consideration.

Some members of the House, including those from Michigan, have been trying to scale back the 35 mph mileage standard the Senate already has endorsed, but pressure is on the lawmakers to stick with the higher fuel economy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and U.S. dependency on foreign oil.

But whether Pelosi can get a House bill passed this month is uncertain.

After a talk with Senate Majority Harry Reid about speeding up consideration of the House energy legislation, Pelosi told freshman members that she wants to have a vote on a bill, including aggressive corporate average fuel economy requirements, next Friday, the day Congress is set to break for its two-week recess.

"I would like to do it before we leave. I’d like to do it because it’s Thanksgiving," Pelosi said at a news conference Thursday, noting "the price at the pump is just staggering for America’s families."

Pelosi spoke late Wednesday with House Energy and Commerce chairman John Dingell, D-Dearborn, a longtime advocate of automakers and supporter of a smaller increase in the mileage standard.

"I am committed to working with the speaker and our leadership to achieve a positive resolution on all issues," Dingell said Thursday.

House and Senate staffers have been meeting for several weeks to try to reconcile the Senate energy bill passed in June and a House bill passed in August. A formal conference committee to do that work was never appointed.

The Senate bill calls for a 40 percent increase in fuel economy by 2020 to a combined 35 mpg for both cars and truck — a bill Pelosi supports.

CAFE standards were left out of the House energy bill, because more than 160 members endorsed an alternative proposal backed by Detroit’s Big Three and Toyota dubbed "Hill-Terry." That proposal provides automakers with more flexibility and time to meet the requirements, which would range between 32 mpg and 35 mpg by 2022.

The Hill-Terry bill also retains separate standards for cars and light trucks and keeps a federal law designed to retain 17,000 small-car production jobs in the United States.

Privately, several auto lobbyists said it will be nearly impossible for Pelosi to get the complex energy bill to the floor by next Friday, since there are so many issues outstanding — including a national renewable fuels policy and the rollback of oil company tax breaks. They argued her statement Thursday may simply have been to reignite the debate in order to get a bill approved in December.

Pelosi said staff is working diligently to resolve differences in the bills. "Democrats and Republican staff, House and Senate, working together to resolve whatever differences there are, that they can resolve, and then give us a report on that and what the remaining issues are," she said.

One person close to the talks said negotiators were considering retaining the 35 mpg standard in the Senate bill, but setting separate deadlines for cars and light trucks, which would give automakers longer to comply with the more difficult standard on larger vehicles.

Meanwhile, the Bush administration plans to issue its own proposed regulations on tailpipe emissions by the end of the year, through joint regulations issued by the Environmental Protection Agency and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

On Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and NHTSA chief Nicole Nason met with the top lobbyists for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, Dave McCurdy and the head of the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers, Mike Stanton.

The auto officials expressed concerns about how differences in regulatory schemes between the EPA and NHTSA could make it difficult to set regulations.