Statement of Therese Langer, ACEEE Transportation Program Director
Today’s announcement of backtracking on vehicle standards for model years 2022-2025 puts at risk tens of billions of dollars of fuel savings for consumers and big reductions in tailpipe emissions.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s January determination that the standards remain feasible and cost effective, even in the face of lower projected gasoline prices, followed a comprehensive technical review released last July. That review also documented the health benefits the standards would deliver through cleaner air.
Automakers pushed the administration toward today’s announcement, but they are doing their own industry a disservice. Any delay in settling efficiency standards introduces uncertainty that will disrupt manufacturers’ product planning. What is certain is that technological stagnation is not a recipe for continuing the remarkable success our domestic manufacturers have achieved in recent years.
In an intensely competitive global vehicle market that is heading towards highly efficient, low emissions vehicles, US manufacturers need to keep moving forward. And consumers deserve vehicle options that save fuel and limit exposure to high gasoline costs in the future. Keeping the 2025 standards in place is the best way to advance both of those objectives.
The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy acts as a catalyst to advance energy efficiency policies, programs, technologies, investments, and behaviors.
