In a letter to Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., outlined concerns with a draft proposal of the NHTSA/EPA fuel efficiency and emissions standards, citing these provisions:
• Freezes 2020 model year standards through the 2026 model year (7 alternative scenarios call for annual stringency levels to ratchet up by 0.5 to 2%.)
• Excludes air conditioning refrigerant leakage, nitrous oxide and methane emissions from tailpipe CO2 compliance standards, and phases out applicable credits from being used to comply with standards in some considered scenarios
• Pre-empts California's authority to designate independent tailpipe greenhouse gas emissions standards under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act
• Justifies rollback of standards on safety grounds, arguing that fuel-efficient vehicles will encourage more driving, and thus lead to more accidents and that lightweighting vehicles will cause more traffic fatalities
• Asserts that the requirement to consider energy conservation when setting fuel economy standards is no longer needed because of declining oil imports
• Pegs the cost of fuel-efficient technologies at nearly $1,900 per vehicle under existing rules, vs. $875 projected by Obama EPA in January 2017
Source: Sen. Tom Carper's office
WASHINGTON — Auto executives visiting the White House Friday, May 11, will to try to save the national fuel economy and emissions program from a Trump administration buzz saw that they fear could usher in years of litigation and uncertainty rather than the leeway they sought.
