National Clean Car Standards Rev Up State Programs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Caitlin Seeley, Environment New York, 617-747-4315, cseeley@environmentamerica.org  
Sean Crowley, Environmental Defense Fund, 202-572-3331, scrowley@edf.org  
Edna Ishayik, Institute for Policy Integrity, NYU School of Law, 212-998-6085, ednai@nyu.edu  

(New York City—April 1, 2010) The Obama administration today announced new fuel economy benchmarks for automobiles and the first national standards for greenhouse gas emissions in U.S. history that will save New York car owners approximately $3,000 in fuel costs over the life of a 2016 model year car. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood made the announcement during a 12pm teleconference.

The collective savings of nearly half a billion gallons (467 million) of gas in New York alone by 2016 will reduce global warming pollution in New York by the equivalent of taking nearly 862,000 of today’s cars off the road for a year. Those are the findings of an analysis by Environment New York of the proposed rule issued last September, which is very similar to the final rule.

New York and 13 other states—Arizona, California, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington—adopted state clean car standards that provided the foundation for national scale emission standards.

“Thanks to New York’s leadership, the cars of tomorrow will be cleaner and cost less to fuel than the cars of today,” said Caitlin Seeley, Federal Field Associate with Environment New York “Today’s announcement is a huge step toward breaking our dependence on oil and tackling global warming.”

The new standards from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation will apply to model year 2012 to 2016 vehicles.

“The new standards deliver a wide range of benefits to New Yorkers, and all Americans, including reducing our dependence on Middle Eastern oil, less pollution, and more money saved at the gas pump,” said Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense Fund, which is headquartered in New York. “Cleaner cars are a key part of the effort to fight climate change and to develop a clean energy economy in America. The new standards will start to make a difference immediately, while the Senate continues its work on bipartisan climate and energy legislation.”

Passenger vehicles affected by the rule account for about 40 percent of all U.S. oil consumption. The standards require vehicles to meet a combined average emissions level of 250 grams of carbon dioxide (CO₂) per mile in 2016, comparable to 35.5 miles per gallon.

“These efficiency standards make good economic sense,” said Michael Livermore, executive director of the Institute for Policy Integrity at NYU School of Law. “In addition to generating billions of dollars in annual pump-side savings for Americans, these rules will push Detroit to continue investing in new technologies.”

Today’s action responds to a 2007 U.S. Supreme Court mandate and will carry out President Obama’s landmark May 19th accord with major automakers, the Governor of California, the United Auto Workers’ Union, and environmental groups. The accord followed the auto industry’s unsuccessful federal lawsuit to block states from setting new rules limiting global warming pollution from cars. Environmental Defense Fund and four environmental groups joined the State of Vermont in defending the case.

Passenger cars and light-trucks emit nearly 20 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gases in the form of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and hydrofluorocarbons. In December, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found that these four contaminants and two other greenhouse gases endanger the human health and welfare of current and future generations. Cars, sport utility vehicles, minivans, pick trucks used for personal transportation and passenger vehicles emit about 60 percent of all mobile source greenhouse gases, the nation’s fastest-growing source of greenhouse gases.

The new standards will reduce gasoline consumption by as much as 11.6 billion gallons per year in 2016—nearly as much as is consumed by all the vehicles in Texas in a year and equal to half the oil we import from Saudi Arabia annually, according Environment New York’s analysis of the proposed rule. Cutting gasoline consumption by this much would collectively save consumers up to $31.8 billion annually at the pump in 2016.

The new standards will reduce global warming pollution from vehicles by 108 million metric tons per year in 2016, according to Environment New York’s analysis of the proposed rule. By 2016, the new vehicle standards will eliminate as much global warming pollution annually as is produced by 28 500-MegaWatt coal-fired power plants or 21.4 million of today’s vehicles, according to Environment New York’s analysis of the proposed rule.

###

Environment New York is a state-based, citizen-funded environmental organization working for clean air, clean water, and open space.

Environmental Defense Fund, a leading national nonprofit organization, represents more than 700,000 members. Since 1967, Environmental Defense Fund has linked science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships to create breakthrough solutions to the most serious environmental problems. For more information, visit www.edf.org .

The Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University School of Law is a non-partisan think-tank that works with advocacy organizations and governments to use economics and law to protect the environment, public health, and consumers.