EPA retains fuel test standard

EPA retains fuel test standard
U.S. Rep. Rogers blocks effort to update gas-economy ratings from the '80s.

By Jeff Plungis / Detroit News Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- With the energy bill that cleared Congress last week, the Environmental Protection Agency will not be devising a new, more accurate test to estimate fuel-economy ratings found on new car and light truck window stickers.

U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, acting on the concerns of Detroit automakers, successfully blocked an attempt to authorize new EPA testing procedures.

Instead of devising a new way to measure vehicles' fuel economy for the window sticker -- reflecting the different ways Americans drive today -- the EPA will do a new calculation.

Rogers' amendment, adopted by the House-Senate conference committee finalizing four years of work on national energy policy, ensures the EPA will continue to use the same test it has used since the 1970s. Known as the "federal test procedure," it is run inside a lab, on a dynamometer, at a maximum speed of 55 mph, with the air conditioner off.

But Congress directed the EPA to study modern driving patterns to come up with "adjustment factors."

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