Levin fights for energy bill changes

WASHINGTON -- Michigan Sen. Carl Levin and a bipartisan band of senators are mounting a new effort to stave off provisions in the Senate energy bill that the auto industry says could cost carmakers at least $85 billion and threaten 17,000 small-car production jobs in the United States.

Levin, D-Detroit, said he and eight to 10 other senators plan to send letters to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid later this week. The first letter seeks at least four key changes to the Senate bill that will help Detroit automakers meet new fuel rules while protecting U.S. jobs and production.

Another letter will ask Reid to move to formal conference negotiations with the House on an energy bill.

Both Levin and Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, think the formal bipartisan conference will allow them to strike a better deal for Detroit, rather than going through an informal process that would let Democratic leaders push through a tougher bill for automakers.

Automakers face the worst climate on Capitol Hill he's ever seen, Levin said Wednesday: "The auto industry is unpopular."

In June, Levin lost the opening battle in the energy bill war when the Senate passed its first major fuel economy increase in two decades.

By a 65-27 vote, the Senate OK'd a 40 percent increase in a combined fleet-wide fuel economy requirement of 35 miles per gallon by 2020 for passenger cars and light trucks.

The bill as it now stands also would do away with the "two-fleet rule," which maintains different mileage standards for passenger cars and light trucks. It also would end separate calculations for domestic- and foreign-made vehicles, a move the United Auto Workers union say would reduce or end small car production in the United States.

Levin did manage to win two key concessions: He got annual 4-percent increases after 2020 dropped, along with creation of an "attribute-based" averaging system for passenger cars. That would put into place a sliding scale of mileage targets based on the size of different classes of cars and offset the loss of the two-fleet standard.

Now Levin wants automakers to get more time to meet new requirements.

"It's got to be a realistic glide path," Levin said, adding that the Senate timetable is impractical and "reaches the numbers too quickly."

Levin wants Congress to keep separate standards for light trucks and cars, as well as provisions to retain small-car production in the United States.

He also wants Congress to extend a credit for building vehicles that can run on alternative fuels.

Levin already met with other senators this week to round up support for such a compromise. He says the challenge is, "Can we put together enough colleagues to make it clear to Sen. Reid that he's going to need to either go to conference with his leadership bill (or) come up with something that's aggressive but achievable?"

Levin said he feels "a conference committee is the better way." A spokesman for Reid said the Senate majority leader hopes to get the bill into conference by the end of the week.

Environmentalists note that Detroit automakers have successfully blocked passenger car fuel economy increases for two decades and say an increase is necessary to cut global warming pollution and reduce U.S. reliance on foreign oil.

Domestic carmakers say the Senate bill would cost them at least $85 billion, force them to add hybrid engine systems to nearly all vehicles and eliminate some of their most profitable vehicles.

Instead, they back a House bill that raises fuel economy by between 28 percent and 40 percent by 2022. That bill is backed by more than 170 House members.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she favors taking both bills to conference, but blames Republicans for blocking it.

You can reach David Shepardson at (202) 66 -8735 or dshepardson@detnews.com">dshepardson@detnews.com.