Opposition to Richard Bryan’s fuel efficiency efforts proves costly

Nearly 20 years ago, U.S. Sen. Richard Bryan was "Mr. CAFE." No, he wasn't hawking a competitor to Joe DiMaggio's Mr. Coffee. The Nevada Democrat was leading the charge to raise the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards.

Starting with his first term in 1989, Bryan used his position on the Senate Commerce Committee, trying (but failing) to improve fuel efficiency standards for U.S. cars and trucks.

Bryan and GOP Sen. Slade Gordon of Washington couldn't overcome the combination effort of the Big Three (General Motors, Ford and Chrysler) and the United Auto Workers, which formed an unholy alliance to fight them every step of the way. The manufacturers and union argued such a mandate would cost jobs, cut into their market share and force Americans into unsafe smaller cars. (The Heritage Foundation wrote that the blood of those killed in smaller cars would be on Bryan's head.)

When President Barack Obama announced plans Tuesday to raise CAFE standards, I called Bryan, now an attorney with Lionel Sawyer & Collins.

Would we be in the fix we're in today if he had succeeded?

"There's no question in my mind the country would be in a much better situation if the standards had passed," he said. "America would be better off."

The first CAFE bill passed in 1975 and the first standard for cars was set in 1978: 18 miles per gallon. But it was slow going after that. Right now, the average fuel efficiency for cars is 25 mpg.

Obama's new fuel economy standard will begin in model year 2012. By 2016 the standard will be 39 mpg for cars and 30 mpg for trucks. Bryan's 1990 bill would have set a standard for cars of 34 mpg by 1996 and 40 mpg by 2001.

Today, there's a new spirit of cooperation. Obama was flanked by industry executives for the announcement and the UAW shot out a news release calling the new agreement on fuel economy and greenhouse gas standards a "major step forward" for the U.S. auto industry.

That spirit of cooperation is way overdue.

Bryan shared a couple of stories about the lack of cooperation he faced from the auto industry. At one of his meetings in Detroit, journalists saw him being picked up in a big Japanese gas-guzzler and Bryan was portrayed as a phony hypocrite in the Detroit press. Apparently no one thought it through that the Nevada senator had no say in what kind of vehicle was sent to pick him up.

At another meeting with General Motors, around an anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, a mid-level manager asked Bryan, "Why would you try to foist upon us a Stalinist regime?" And he was serious.

"The auto industry was hard to love," Bryan said. "They fought catalytic converters. They fought air bags, and the industry was resistant to side impact bags and rollover standards. It was a Pavlovian response. Anything suggested that they didn't want to do on their own was philosophically opposed."

Bryan said U.S. automakers embraced a corporate culture that had problems adapting.

"The free market does a good job in taking a snapshot of what in a given time frame may be profitable, but it doesn't focus on national strategy," Bryan said.

If fuel standards had increased when he fought for them, Bryan believes America would be less dependant on foreign oil today.

Yet when the industry thwarted the higher fuel standards effort, there was no public outcry. In fact, Bryan was targeted by a front group that did TV ads against him in Nevada telling farmers and ranchers and off-roaders they'd lose their rights under Bryan's CAFE standards.

It was a lost opportunity.

And now the Big Three are sinking, and the government is pouring in billions to bail them out. And finally, the Big Three see the light.

Maybe if they built cars that people like me wanted to buy, they wouldn't be in such sad shape. My first Ford was also my last Ford, before I switched in the 1970s to more reliable and fuel efficient Hondas and Toyotas.

Gone are the days when my granddad was faithful to Ford and Bryan's dad was "a Chrysler guy."

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/morrison/.