New Vehicle Standards Historic Step in Regulating Greenhouse Emissions, But U.S. Still Lags Behind

WASHINGTON- On Thursday the Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency finalized national regulations of greenhouse gas emissions from cars, light-duty trucks, and SUVs. The standards, an important and historic step, are a significant improvement on the status quo yet still leave the United States far behind other countries in fuel economy.

“Reducing greenhouse gas pollution from cars and trucks under the Clean Air Act is an historic step in the fight to curb global warming. The Clean Air Act is our strongest and most successful tool for reducing air pollution and will now be put to work, together with our fuel-economy law, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, protect the air we breathe, and save consumers money,” said Kierán Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity. “This rule demonstrates what we’ve said for years: The Clean Air Act works and, if fully implemented, has the power to quickly, efficiently avoid the worst effects of global warming.”

According to the EPA, the new combined rule will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 960 million metric tons and save some 1.8 billion barrels of oil over the lifetime of the covered vehicles. The new rule, which covers more than 60 percent of all U.S. transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions, will increase national gas-mileage standards for covered vehicles by about 5 percent per year, with the standard reaching 35.5 mpg for model year 2016, ahead of the existing deadline to achieve 35 mpg by 2020.

“Despite the increase, the rule will leave the United States far behind the fuel efficiency that European and Japanese cars achieve today, at close to 44 mpg and 43 mpg respectively. Until U.S. standards are improved as our laws require, the battered U.S. auto industry will continue to lag behind its international rivals,” added Suckling.

In November 2007, the Center for Biological Diversity, other nonprofit organizations, and more than a dozen states won a landmark court victory overturning the Bush administration’s fuel-economy standards for model years 2008-2011, in part because of the administration’s failure to consider the impact of greenhouse gas emissions from the regulated vehicles.

While Thursday’s announcement regulates mobile sources, earlier in the week the EPA announced a further delay of legally required greenhouse pollution controls for smokestacks.

“This historic rulemaking should have also triggered Clean Air Act protections from emissions from stationary sources, such as coal-fired power plants. EPA’s decision this week to delay vital greenhouse gas pollution controls for stationary sources undermines Thursday’s decision on vehicle emissions. The Clean Air Act should be used in its entirety as soon as possible, before it’s too late,” said Suckling.

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