Auto industry to join climate fight

Execs to help battle global warming, but won`t go it alone

The Plain Dealer
March 15, 2007
By Ken Thomas
Associated Press

Washington- U.S. automakers and a top union official pledged Wednesday to work with Congress to find new ways to deal with global warming but declared their industry could not bear the burden alone.

The leaders of General Motors, Ford, Toyota and Chrysler, along with the head of the United Auto Workers, made a rare joint appearance before a House subcommittee. They stressed that proposed increases in gas mileage standards for new vehicles would be extremely expensive and could have calamitous results.

"This could include the closing of additional facilities and the loss of tens of thousands of automotive jobs," UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said.

But all of the industry leaders, under questioning from House Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell, Democrat of Michigan, vowed to work with the committee to produce regulations to address climate change and consider "new regulatory regimes" beyond the fuel economy program.

"Inaction will not work, and telling us what doesn`t work is useful but no longer sufficient," Dingell said.

The committee was exploring alternatives to the fuel economy program, possibly through the regulation of a vehicle`s carbon dioxide emissions. Gettelfinger, for example, said the UAW wanted Congress to look into the potential of a carbon control policy that would require reductions in carbon emissions of vehicles.

All of the auto leaders answered "yes" when asked by Dingell if they were willing to consider "a system which regulates the emissions of carbon dioxide from your vehicles." But they said it would need to be coupled with reduced emissions and carbon production from fuels.

David Friedman, research director of the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the auto industry`s support for other industries - such as oil producers - paying for a cap on emissions could lead to higher gasoline prices and let car makers "avoid the responsibility for the pollution their vehicles produce."

The White House is aiming for a 4 percent increase in fuel economy requirements and wants to change how the rules are applied.

Rick Wagoner, General Motors Corp.`s chairman and chief executive, said a 4 percent increase in gas mileage standards would be "extraordinarily expensive and technologically challenging to implement." 

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