Senate majority leader Harry Reid just successfully attached an amendment to the energy bill that would increase Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards to 35 mpg for all cars, trucks and SUVs by 2020. A coalition of auto-state Senators unsuccessfully opposed the measure, failing to get enough votes for a substitute that would have lowered the requirement for trucks and SUVs.

The measure is problematic for several reasons. For one thing, it would limit consumer choice. As David Holt of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce told the Indy Star, “There’s no way [automakers would] probably be able to produce SUVs,” under the new standards. For another, it would make cars more expensive. A 2002 National Research Council study estimated that new fuel-efficiency standards would increase the sticker price on automobiles by anywhere from $1,000 to $3,500.

But more troubling is that study’s finding that, although CAFE standards enacted in the 1970s reduced auto emissions, they increased traffic fatalities. The study looked at the year 1993, and a majority of its authors found that CAFE standards resulted in between 1,300 and 2,600 preventable traffic deaths in that year because, in order to meet the new fuel-efficiency standards, automakers had been downsizing and downweighting most cars, which made them less safe in collisions.

This amendment is just one bad element in a problematic bill, and one more reason for Senators to vote against it when its brought up on the Senate floor.

P.S. Just as a humorous postscript to this post, here’s a photo and caption from page three of today’s Roll Call. Enjoy: