Several press outlets report that EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is considering rolling back the car and light truck emissions and fuel efficiency standards for model years 2022-2025 and is also considering revoking California’s authority under the Clean Air Act to establish its own vehicle standards.
Since the passage of the Clean Air Act, California has retained the authority to establish car and truck emissions and fuel efficiency standards that are more stringent than the national standard set by the EPA. States have the option to adopt the California standard and currently 12 states and the District of Columbia have adopted California’s vehicle standard for tail pipe emission and vehicle fuel efficiency. The auto industry has consistently expressed frustration with building cars to meet two different standards.
During the Obama Administration, the EPA sought to harmonize emissions and fuel efficiency standards to effectively create a national standard. The agreement reached was supported, at the time, by all parties including the EPA, California and the auto industry. The agreement set GHG emission standards and vehicle fuel efficiency standards of 50 mpg for cars and light trucks for model years 2022-2025.
Trump EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt appears to be taking steps to undo the agreement, both in terms of rolling back emissions and vehicle fuel efficiency standards and potentially revoking California’s authority to establish a standard more protective than the EPA national standards.
This appears to have put the auto industry in an awkward position, where they probably would support roll back of fuel efficiency standards, but don’t want to lose the convenience and predictability of building vehicles to meet one national standard. Industry has the technology to meet both the emission standards and fuel efficiency standards, but lower than expected gas prices allowed consumers to purchase less fuel-efficient autos – namely trucks, minivans and SUVs – than projected, making it harder than expected for the industry to meet average fuel efficiency standards. While Administrator Pruitt’s threats to revoke the California authority might be attractive to industry, the auto industry is calculating such action would likely not survive court challenge and would be unlikely to pass Congress.
The ATS strongly opposes any effort to weaken the current emissions and fuel efficiency standards established for cars and light trucks for model years 2022-2025. ATS staff recently met with White House staff at the Office of Management and Budget to express our strong support for the current standards and to oppose any action to revoke California’s state authority under the Clean Air Act.
