Clergy leaders: State has duty to use more fuel-efficient cars

By Ralph Thomas
Seattle Times Olympia bureau

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OLYMPIA — State government should do more to help protect God's creation, and it should start by buying more fuel-efficient cars.

That's the crux of a new report due to be released today by state religious leaders. The report concludes that the state could dramatically reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions over the next decade — and would save a few millions dollars along the way.

"This is one concrete, small example of how we can reduce pollution and save the taxpayers money," said the Rev. John Boonstra, executive minister for the Washington Association of Churches.

The association is affiliated with the national Interfaith Climate and Energy Campaign, which commissioned the new report as part of its 12-state "What Should the Governor Drive?" campaign.

The report, which cites everything from the book of Genesis to scientific studies on global warming, says states need to step forward because President Bush and Congress have not been bold enough in reducing energy waste and greenhouse-gas emissions.

"Our profligate and polluting waste of energy is unhealthy and unjust," the report says.

The push for more fuel-efficient state cars is a spinoff from the Evangelical Environmental Network's "What Would Jesus Drive?" campaign, which questioned the morality of producing and driving gas-guzzling sport-utility vehicles.

Boonstra said he and other religious leaders will use the new report in an effort to persuade Gov. Gary Locke and the Legislature to change the state's car-purchasing policies.

"It's not just a political issue or economic issue," said Boonstra. "It's also a moral, ethical and spiritual issue for large numbers of people in our state."

Excluding police cars, state government operates about 9,125 cars and light trucks and on average replaces more than 1,000 vehicles a year.

According to the report, if the state purchased the most fuel-efficient models available, it could reduce gasoline consumption by more than 75,000 gallons in the first year. Over 10 years, the state would save more than 4 million gallons of gas. At $1 per gallon (the state's cost for gas), the state would save more than $4 million by 2013.

It would also reduce the release of so-called greenhouse gases by more than 953 tons in the first year and by more than 51,000 tons over 10 years, the report found.

The state could cut fuel consumption and emissions by more than twice those amounts if it required half of all replacement vehicles to be hybrid-electric models. But switching to hybrids, which are more expensive than standard cars, would actually cost the state an extra $1.1 million in the first year alone.

Bryan Bazard, who manages a large portion of the state's vehicle fleet, found a few flaws in the interfaith group's report. For instance, he said, switching to hybrids would be much more expensive than the report indicates. Bazard, however, did not dispute the overall conclusion that the state could cut fuel consumption.

Bazard said the state has purchased a few hybrid cars and is pleased with their performance. But he said there are some factors beyond the state's control that often prevent it from going with the most fuel-efficient cars on the market.

For example, he said, federal rules require the state to make sure that 75 percent of its new cars are able to burn alternate fuels, such as ethanol. That eliminates many options and forces the state to buy a lot of cars like the Ford Taurus, which gets fewer than 30 miles per gallon.

Ralph Thomas: 360-943-9882 or rthomas@seattletimes.com

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