Environment America Pushes for Stronger Vehicle Standards

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Aminah Zaghab

Environment America

Washington, D.C. – One day after NOAA reported the earth had experience the hottest summer ever, the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade and the subcommittee on Energy and Power will hold a hearing to discuss vehicle efficiency and the corporate average fuel economy standards. According to the Energy Information Administration, transportation is now the top source of global warming pollution in the U.S. and these standards represent an important path to curbing climate change.  Further, EPA and NHTSA’s recent Technical Assessment Report said the standards are achievable and cost-effective.   Aminah Zaghab, Global Warming Solutions Advocate for Environment America, issued the following statement:

“It’s high time we looked at the enormous benefits of automobile pollution standards.  Environment America vigorously supports the strongest possible fuel economy and greenhouse gas standards for automobiles. Since their adoption, these rules have prevented more than 100 million metric tons of global warming pollution. And the benefits must continue–thanks to the standards, consumers are saving money at the pump and the U.S. is cutting oil use in automobiles – in 2030 we will save 2.4 million barrels of oil per day, more than we currently import from the Middle East and Venezuela combined.

Given all these benefits and the increasing impacts of climate change, any effort to weaken the standards, expand flexibilities, increase credits, or widen loopholes allows car companies to increase global warming pollution and oil consumption. After the hottest summer on record the last thing we should do is undermine the effective greenhouse gas emission and fuel economy standards.

The release of the Draft Technical Assessment Report (TAR) this summer showed that the standards are not only achievable, but that many cost-effective technologies are available to meet the current standards, even with low gas prices. Considering the benefits to our health and our environment, the rules should be even stronger!

Finally according to a report released today by the Center for American progress, the costs of inaction on climate are staggering.  Between 2005 and 2015, FEMA issued more than $67 billion in grants to assist communities and individuals devastated by extreme weather and wildfires.

We urge Congress to oppose any measure which would allow car companies to undermine our public health, environment, energy security and consumer savings by increasing global warming pollution and oil consumption. We should be doing all we can to harness modern technology to deliver cars that reduce global warming pollution and save oil to benefit all Americans.”

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Environment America is a federation of 29 state based environmental advocacy groups working for a cleaner greener healthier future.