President
Obama will announce today that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and
Department of Transportation will establish a uniform federal standard to
reduce global warming pollution from cars and light trucks and improve vehicle
efficiency. The standard, which will be
the first ever federal global warming standard for vehicles, will largely mirror
the standard already adopted by California and 13 other states.
“We’re
thrilled by this announcement to put cleaner cars on the road. President Obama is proving himself behind the
wheel in the race to a clean energy economy.
This historic action will reduce our nation’s dependence on oil, save
consumers money at the pump, and cut global warming pollution. This is what leadership looks like,” said
Environment California Clean Energy Advocate Bernadette Del Chiaro.
The
standard will reduce global warming pollution from new vehicles by 30 percent
and achieve an average fuel economy of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016 – four years
earlier than under current law.
According to the White House, the program will save 1.8 billion barrels
of oil and reduce global warming pollution by 900 million metric tons, which is
equivalent to eliminating the pollution from 177 million of today’s cars or 194
coal plants.
“Environment
California applauds Governor Schwarzenegger and other California leaders as well
as the 13 other states that spearheaded the drive for cleaner cars. We wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for
their trailblazing efforts to reduce our oil dependence and work to solve
global warming,” concluded Del Chiaro.
Background:
* Environment California has
worked to adopt the clean cars standards in California since 2002.
* Passenger vehicles
are the second largest source of global warming pollution nationwide.
*
The Clean Air Act allows (1) California to set
auto emission standards that are stronger than federal standards (no such
standards currently exist); and (2) other states to adopt California’s auto emission standards.
*
In 2005, California
adopted first-of-their-kind standards requiring cars and light-duty trucks to
limit their global warming pollution. A
total of 13 other states—Arizona, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts,
New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont,
and Washington—have adopted the tailpipe standards. Several additional states are actively
considering adopting the standards.
*
In 2007, Congress passed the first increase in fuel economy standards in 32
years; those standards require an average fuel economy of 35 mile-per-gallon by
2020.
