China Plans Strict Gas MPG Rules

[Guest Tony n Terrific]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/28/business...ent/28fuel.html

[usagroom]

China Is Said to Plan Strict Gas Mileage Rules

BY KEITH BRADSHER

 

HONG KONG ¡ª Worried about heavy reliance on imported oil, Chinese officials have drafted automotive fuel economy standards that are even more stringent than those outlined by President Obama last week, Chinese experts with a detailed knowledge of the plans said on Wednesday.

 

The new plan would require automakers in China to improve fuel economy by an additional 18 percent by 2015, said An Feng, a leading architect of China¡¯s existing fuel economy regulations who is now the president of the Innovation Center for Energy and Transportation, a nonprofit group in Beijing.

 

The plan is going through the interagency approval process, with comments sought from automakers, and is scheduled for release early next year, he said.

 

The Chinese government tends to make few changes in automotive regulations once the interagency review process has started.

Good long article.

[Zhou Zhou]

The PRC always seems to make big plans, take big steps and don't wait decades to put changes into action. It's unusual for us to have a president with the courage to buck the auto industry and big oil...

[usagroom]

The PRC always seems to make big plans, take big steps and don't wait decades to put changes into action. It's unusual for us to have a president with the courage to buck the auto industry and big oil...

So many people in my family marvel about this aspect of the Chinese. I just say it is DIFFERENT there and they do things another way.

[jsa23]

The PRC always seems to make big plans, take big steps and don't wait decades to put changes into action. It's unusual for us to have a president with the courage to buck the auto industry and big oil...

 

The problem in the U.S. is as much Congress as the president.

 

Good luck getting a bill to go anywhere when you've pissed off all the Republicans, as well as all the Democrats from auto states.

 

Thankfully in China, the government isn't in denial about environmental issues, unlike a significant chunk of ours. They've got a ways to go, yes. But having perspective on the problem is the first step towards resolving it.

Edited May 29, 2009 by jsa23 (see edit history)

[Zhou Zhou]

>>Thankfully in China, the government isn't in denial about environmental issues, unlike a significant chunk of ours. They've got a ways to go, yes.<<

 

Very true...I remember the horrible pollution of land, streams, rivers and the air back in the sixties and fifties. It took us a long time to repair the damage of our industrial revolution and the corporate elite and their political friends were not at times cooperative.