Quick Facts and Talking Points

SUVs consume over 6 miles per gallon more than a family station wagon. No small difference when you consider that an improvement of just 3 mpg in autos nationwide would save 1 million barrels of oil per day. (AH column 11-14-01)

In Iraq, oil money has kept Saddam's repressive regime afloat even in the midst of tough UN sanctions. According to a report just released by the CIA, Saddam has been spending his oil money on conventional arms and weapons of mass destruction, while starving and torturing his own people. (AH 10-21-02)

Iraq, Iran and Libya -- hardly friendly countries -- account for 10 percent of all the world's oil. Saudi Arabia, the homeland of bin Laden, contributes 11 percent. (Chicago Tribune 11-11-01)

In Saudi Arabia, our second largest foreign supplier of oil, the money you spend at the pump over here pays for a feudal monarchy that gorges itself on excess while bankrolling terrorist mischief abroad with its support of suicide bombers. (AH 10-21-02)

The Energy Department reported last year U.S. cars and light trucks consumed 10 percent of the annual global oil production, or about 8 million barrels of 77 million produced each day. (Chicago Sun-Times 3-20-02)

Among other things, the auto industry has been able to avoid some of the rules simply by making the vehicles bigger. If you make an SUV big enough, it qualifies for lenient air pollution rules, and if you make it really large, like the larger Suburbans or the Hummers or the Ford Excursions, they're exempt from fuel economy standards entirely. (Salon 10-24-02)

If SUVs and mini-vans were required to meet the same standards as cars, this would cut total U.S. oil use by 1 million barrels a day by 2010, says the Union of Concerned Scientists. (Chicago Tribune 11-11-01)

Average fuel economy for all models of SUVs, vans and pickups is about 18 miles to the gallon, with some, like the Dodge Durango, getting 12 m.p.g. in city driving and 17 on the highway. (Chicago Tribune 11-11-01)

EPA estimates a 3 mpg increase in average fuel economy industrywide would save $25 billion a year in fuel costs and reduce 140 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year. (Newsday 10-10-01)

Beyond contributing to waste and pollution, the rise of gas guzzlers could be seen as a national security issue. The EPA reported that an improvement of just 3 mpg overall would save 1-million barrels of oil per day. Considering that the United States imports 740,000 barrels of oil per day from Iraq, a modest improvement in fuel economy would free the country from its dependence on a hostile state. (St. Petersburg Times 10-6-01)

If cars got an average of 45 MPG (with light trucks getting 34 MPG), oil demand would diminish by about 2 million barrels a day, according to the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy. (Salon.com 9-27-01)

The figures are so bad that EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham are coming stunningly close to saying that fuel efficiency is a patriotic duty. Abraham said, "Reducing our nation's dependence on imported oil is crucial to our national energy security, now more than ever before." (Boston Globe 10-12-01)