MANY of the Hollywood celebrities behind the new campaign against gas-guzzling SUVs are hypocrites who consume huge quantities of fossil fuels in their stretch limos, Gulfstream jets and oversized Beverly Hills mansions.

TV producer Norman ("All in the Family") Lear, who is spearheading the conservation crusade along with columnist Arianna Huffington, built a garage for 21 cars five years ago which stands 45 feet tall.

"Lear's neighbors . . . contend that the structure, complete with a tennis court atop, was built in violation of city height restrictions," the Los Angeles Times reports. "Lear's parking garage has ruined the aesthetics of the wooded canyon."

Gwyneth Paltrow is appearing in ads for Lear's Enviromental Media Association (EMA) accusing SUV owners of supporting terrorism. But some of Paltrow's neighbors find her to be an odd choice for an anti-SUV poster girl.

"She drives a Mercedes-Benz SUV," says a tipster who lives down the block from Paltrow's West Village digs. "Not only does she drive an SUV, she selfishly parks it on the sidewalk in our neighborhood." Paltrow's publicist did not return calls.

The commercials have outraged drivers from all walks of life. They juxtapose footage of Americans filling up their SUVs with clips of Middle Eastern terrorists in face masks raising AK-47s.

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2003

Answers

Chevy Chase and his wife are avid supporters of the EMA, but that doesn't stop them from cruising around Westchester in the luxury of a SUV.

"They keep it in the back and it's very rarely used," Chase's rep, Alan Eichorn, tells PAGE SIX's Ian Spiegelman. "They only use it when they have to attach the horse trailer or when they're carrying a lot of kids."

Eichorn explains that the Chases are "extremely enviromentally conscious," that they have not one but two of Toyota's Prius model hybrid cars, and that they even use solar panels to heat their swimming pool.

"They hate having the SUV and they're going to get rid of it as soon as the carmakers come out with a hybrid version."

Barbra Streisand, meanwhile, never seems to tire of telling other people how to live, but the world would be a pretty smog-filled place if the rest of us lived like her. As The Post reported recently, Streisand and her hubby James Brolin have SUVs. Streisand's rep would not comment on what vehicles the couple is currently driving, but said that they plan to buy a Prius.

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2003

January 12, 2003

Hummer drivers undeterred by gas concerns By PAUL WILBORN Associated Press Writer

People look under the hood of a Hummer H2 at the L.A. Auto Show. The Mishawaka-made vehicle is extremely popular, despite increasing concern about the country's dependence on foreign oil.

AP Photos/DAMIAN DOVARGANES

LOS ANGELES -- A growing SUV backlash and increasing concern about the country's dependence on foreign oil has done nothing to stem enthusiasm for one of the most gluttonous gas-guzzlers on America's highways, the Hummer.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has one. So do Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and a long list of celebrities, professional athletes and music stars.

Dealers say the military-style behemoth made famous in the Gulf War gets 8-10 miles per gallon. General Motors, which markets and distributes the latest version of the vehicle, the Hummer H2, puts the figure at 10-13 mpg. By comparison, the Ford Expedition gets 14-19 mpg, and the three-quarter ton Chevy Suburban gets 13-17 mpg.

A Web site for Hummer enthusiasts boasts: "You might be driving a Hummer if ... you don't measure fuel efficiency by miles per gallon, but rather gallons per mile."

"You got a vehicle that weighs 6,500 pounds and has the aerodynamics of a brick," said Tom Bowlin of Cerritos Hummer, a Southern California dealership. "Fuel economy is not going to be at the top of what it excels at."

Despite that, he said, "We've got the most popular new vehicle on the market in years."

The Hummer's popularity comes at a time of increasing concern about how the country's dependence on foreign oil affects the country's international relations. More - http://www.southbendtribune.com/stories/2003/01/12/business.20030112-sbt-MICH-B4-Hummer_drivers.sto

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2003

Drugs and terrorism and insulting ads

By Cathy Young, 1/13/2003

IT WAS ONLY a matter of time: A new television ad campaign suggests that if you drive a sport -utility vehicle, you are helping terrorism by putting money in the pockets of oil-producing, terrorism-sponsoring countries like Saudi Arabia and Iraq. One of the commercials cuts from a man at a gas station to a map of the Middle East to video footage of a terrorist training camp, while a little girl's voice says, ''These are the terrorists who get money from those countries every time George fills up his SUV.''

The commercials, which started to air on Sunday, are already causing controversy. Some local television stations have refused to run them because of concerns about their accuracy. Spokesmen for the auto industry have been dismissive, and even Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, a leading proponent of tougher fuel efficiency standards, has distanced himself from the ads' accusatory message.

While I don't drive an SUV, I have little sympathy for anti-SUV rhetoric which often substitutes a quasi-religious zeal to denounce America's sins of excessive consumption for facts and reasoned analysis. The ads linking SUV ownership to terrorism are the latest manifestation of this mindset, and one can point to numerous problems with their premise.

Drivers of small cars fill up at the same gas pumps as do SUV owners; it's not just what you drive, it's how much you drive. (''I say if your drive your offspring to any superfluous activity besides school, you're supporting terrorism,'' a friend of mine sarcastically suggested.) Critics point out that some of the wealthy sponsors of these commercials live in vast, oil-heated homes, have fleets of cars, and fly private jets. More - http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/013/oped/Drugs_and_terrorism_and_insulting_ads+.shtml

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2003