US set to raise fuel economy standards for the first time in decades
Wed 19 December 2007
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The US House of Representatives has voted to increase required fleet average passenger vehicle fuel economy standards to 35mpg by 2020. The Corporate Average Fleet Economy (CAFE)standards will mandate an increase from today's fleetwide average of about 25mpg. The regulation will be the first meaningful law change to US fuel economy standards in 30 years.
The House of Representatives voted for the revised CAFE standards as part of a major new energy bill which also aims to increase production of renewable motor fuels and take away billions of dollars of tax credits to pay for new and expanded renewable energy programmes. The bill includes a requirement that the US reduce its oil use by 2.5 million b/d by 2016 from baseline levels and by 10 million b/d by 2031.
The New York Times, in an editorial, wrote: "The bill represents a historic opportunity to ease America’s dependence on foreign oil and to take steps in the battle against global warming, and its passage would send a message to the world's negotiators in Bali that Washington is at last getting serious about climate change".
In a ruling shortly following the President's signature of the new energy bill, however, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) denied California’s request for routine permission to implement its clean cars law. This represents a victory for the car makers who argued that there should be one national framework of regulation.
The administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said: “The Bush administration is moving forward with a clear national solution — not a confusing patchwork of state rules. I believe this is a better approach than if individual states were to act alone.”
Had the EPA agreed to the waiver, California and other states planned to enact rules requiring the car companies to achieve a 30 percent reduction of emissions by cars, trucks and sport utility vehicles by 2016. The rules were set to begin taking effect with 2009 model year vehicles, some of which go on sale as soon as next month.
Twelve states have adopted the California emissions standards, and the governors of three more have also said they planned to do so.
Environmental groups are highly critical of the decision saying that states should be able to limit emissions and, in doing so, may set stricter fuel-economy regulations than those set at national level. A Natural Resources Defence Council spokesman said: "This rejection represents bald-faced political interference with California’s decades-long authority to enforce its own clean air rules."
Opponents of the decision hope the EPA ruling will be overturned when the Bush administration leaves office in a year's time.
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