Evan Goldin | Driving in the wrong direction

Anthony Williams represents Penn's district in the Pennsylvania state Senate.

He is a Democrat who has consistently supported the environment. This summer, he fought for tougher statewide automobile emissions standards.

"Pollution is real. Cancer rates are real. The inhalation of carcinogens is real," he told the Harrisburg Patriot-News. But when Williams had to choose a car from the Commonwealth Automotive Fleet, which leases vehicles to legislators, he picked a 2006 GMC Yukon.

The SUV fits eight and carries a massive 26-gallon gas tank. It goes 17 miles per gallon. And if it were driven 25,000 miles in a year, it would consume nearly 1,500 gallons of gas. Each round trip from West Philadelphia to the capitol uses a third of a barrel of oil and puts 71 pounds of carbon into the atmosphere.

Sadly, Sen. Williams's case is the status quo. Seventeen of 24 freshman legislators drive SUVs. Many of them campaigned on promises to protect the environment and lessen our dependence on foreign oil.

Like Rick Taylor, a Democrat elected to represent neighboring Montgomery County in the General Assembly. In an e-mail to supporters, Taylor promised to "recognize that global warming is a reality and work with Governor Rendell to reduce carbon dioxide output."

But Taylor chose a 17-miles-per-gallon Ford Explorer from the fleet. This was hypocritical and harmful to the environment, and not entirely Taylor's fault. For while the fleet does offer a few frugal options, like a Ford Focus or a Chevy Malibu - and the average mileage of the entire fleet is a decent 23.6 miles per gallon - the majority of cars available are SUVs or minivans.

It doesn't have to be that way. In California, the only other state to provide cars to all legislators, hybrids are legislators' cars of choice. Since the state added foreign hybrids to its fleet (it formerly had only American cars), the average mileage of cars driven by state senators has increased to 28 miles per gallon, according to the state Senate Rules Committee. Thirteen of the 40 senators drive hybrids.

In Pennsylvania, only six of 120 legislators who lease vehicles drive hybrids, and three more have requested them, according to Edward Myslewicz, press secretary for the state's Department of General Services. More would probably follow if our state added more economical foreign models to its fleet, as California did, instead of sticking with America's GMCs. How long can we support blundering national brands at the expense of the environment?

With 109 representatives and 11 senators leasing cars through the state, Pennsylvania's legislators make an impact on the environment. But, more important, they are leaders. The choices they make should set an example for citizens to follow.

"It shows a lack of leadership from our state's leaders," said Nathan Wilcox, an energy and clean-air advocate for PennEnvironment, a state-wide advocacy organization. "If the government and leaders are serious about issues like oil and climate change it would make sense that they are making the individual choices" that reflect that.

The cars our elected officials drive send a message, and recently that message has been that legislators care less and less about energy independence and the environment.

The often ridiculous contrast between public statement and private action was made more apparent in Washington last year, when Democratic legislators staged a press event about our dependence on gas at a gas station - while staff kept their cars running nearby - then drove a single block back to the Capitol instead of walking.

In 2003, The Philadelphia Inquirer released a list of the cars driven by 36 southeastern Pennsylvania lawmakers. The average mileage, as I calculated it, was 20 miles per gallon. This year, when I calculated the average mileage of vehicles driven by local leaders - Williams and Rep. James Roebuck (D-Phila.) - and the freshman class of legislators, the average mileage was 19.7 miles per gallon.

In other words, it's getting worse. And especially notice that the legislator average is far less than the average fleet mileage of 23.6 miles per gallon, demonstrating the legislator's reluctance to drive smaller cars.

However, there is some good news, and it comes from the only freshman legislator driving a hybrid. Eugene DePasquale is an assemblyman from York, Pa. He secured the one hybrid available to freshman legislators. There are no more currently available - a problem he seeks to fix. He has introduced a bill to expand the percentage of hybrids in the Commonwealth fleet to 50 percent.

"At the end of the day, many of us live in our cars. We should try to make them more fuel-efficient or run on electricity," he told me.

The bill would also eliminate sales tax on hybrids or any car that gets more than 40 miles per gallon. At least there's one person in Harrisburg whose actions match his words.

Evan Goldin is a College senior from Palo Alto, Calif. The Gold Standard appears on Tuesdays. His e-mail address is goldin@dailypennsylvanian.com.

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