Vehicle Violence Harms Us Physically and Fiscally
December, 2016
Bloomberg reports:
Nov. 30 — Advocates will play up the competitiveness and economic advantages of retaining federal greenhouse gas standards for passenger vehicles in a bid to win support from an incoming Trump administration that has suggested the rules could be scaled back.
Retaining the Environmental Protection Agency’s tailpipe standards, which require vehicle manufacturers to achieve the equivalent of 54.5 miles per gallon on average in model year 2025 if all of the required emissions reductions are met solely through fuel economy improvements, will save cash-strapped consumers money at the gas pump and place American manufacturers on equal footing with their foreign competitors, advocates say.
“If these standard are reduced, it’s his strongest base of support that will be hurt the most,” Jack Gillis, an automotive expert at the Consumer Federation of America, told Bloomberg BNA….
While automakers have so far only sought tweaks to the federal program, rolling back the standards could push some states, particularly California, to pursue their own requirements. That would lead to the sort of patchwork regulatory approach manufacturers sought to avoid with their initial support for the EPA and NHTSA’s joint federal standards.
“The auto companies need to be careful what they wish for,” Dan Becker, director of the Center for Auto Safety’s Safe Climate Campaign, told Bloomberg BNA.
