Understanding Proposed CAFE Reforms for Light-Duty Trucks
Understanding Proposed CAFE Reforms for Light-Duty Trucks October 20, 2005
An RFF Workshop
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently released a package of proposed reforms to fuel economy standards for light-duty trucks. These reforms would gradually shift from the traditional, single-standard approach in favor of standards differentiated by manufacturer, based on the size distribution of their fleet. Further, the level of the standards would be based on an explicit cost-benefit analysis designed to maximize gains to society. Despite the considerable attention given to the suggested level of the standards, little attention has focused on these proposed architectural reforms.
RFF presents a half-day program designed to answer questions, encourage debate, and spur informed comments on the proposed reform package. In particular, speakers discuss how the new system will work, how it improves (or does not improve) on existing policy, and how key questions concerning implementation might be resolved. Official comments on the reform package are due November 22, 2005.
Audio and presentation slides from this workshop follow below.
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Phil Sharp - Introduction |
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Phil Sharp became President of Resources for the Future in September 2005. His career in public service over the last 35 years includes 10 terms as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana, during which time he took key leadership roles in the development of landmark energy legislation. Following his decision not to seek an eleventh consecutive term in the House, Sharp joined Harvard’s Kennedy School, where he was a Lecturer in Public Policy from 1995 to 2001. He served as Director of Harvard’s Institute of Politics from 1995 to 1998 and again from 2004 until August 2005, and was also a Senior Research Fellow in the Environmental and Natural Resources Program. Sharp has also served as Congressional chair of the National Commission on Energy Policy. | |||||||||||
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Stephen R. Kratzke - Overview of the Reform Package |
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Stephen Kratzke is Associate Administrator for Rulemaking at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. He began his service at NHTSA in 1976 as a Rulemaking Attorney and has since held various positions, including Director of the Office of Crash Avoidance Standards, Program Analyst in the Office of Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, and Deputy Assistant Chief Counsel for Rulemaking. He earned a B.A. from Duke University and a J.D. from Georgetown University. | |||||||||||
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Adrian K. Lund - Panelist Presentation Slides |
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Adrian Lund is chief operating officer of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), where he has overall responsibility for the research programs of both IIHS and its affiliate, the Highway Loss Data Institute. Since joining IIHS in 1981, Lund has directed research on driver, vehicle, and roadway factors involved in the safety of motor vehicle travel. He also served on the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Effectiveness and Impact of the Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards and the National Research Council Committee for the Review of the Intelligent Vehicle Initiative. | |||||||||||
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William Pizer - Panelist |
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| Billy Pizer’s research seeks to quantify how various features of environmental policy and economic context, including uncertainty, individual and regional variation, technological change, irreversibility, spillovers, voluntary participation, and flexibility, influence a policy's efficacy. He applies much of this work to the question of how to design and implement policies to reduce the threat of climate change caused by manmade emissions of greenhouse gases. Since August 2002, Pizer has worked part-time as a Senior Economist at the National Commission on Energy Policy. During 2001-2002, he served as a Senior Economist at the President’s Council of Economic Advisers where he worked on environment and climate change issues. He was a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University’s Center for Environmental Science and Policy during 2000-2001, and taught at Johns Hopkins University during 1997-1999. | |||||||||||
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Participants
Ian Parry
