In what he called “a down payment on a broader and sustained effort to reduce our dependence on foreign oil,” President Obama on Monday, Jan. 26, directed the U.S. Department of Transportation to establish higher fuel efficiency standards for carmakers’ 2011 model year.
Obama also asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to review whether to grant California and 13 other states the right to impose a 30 percent reduction in vehicle emissions following the Bush administration’s 2007 denial of the request.
“This moment of peril must be turned to one of progress,” Obama said as he signed the two presidential memoranda. “Instead of serving as a partner, Washington stood in their way. … The days of Washington dragging its heels are over.”
The Bush administration on Jan. 7 announced that it would not finalize its rulemaking on Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards. DOT said at the time that the recent financial difficulties of the automobile industry would require the Obama administration to conduct a thorough review of matters affecting the industry. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration already had done significant work to position U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to finalize a rule before the April 1 deadline, DOT said.
“CAFE is a top priority for this administration, and the Department of Transportation and its National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are poised to move quickly on new fuel economy standards for passenger cars and light trucks,” LaHood said.
Under the proposal announced last April 22, fuel efficiency standards for both passenger vehicles and light trucks would increase by 4.5 percent per year over the five-year period ending in 2015 – a 25 percent total improvement that exceeds the 3.3 percent baseline proposed by Congress under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA).
For passenger cars, the proposal would increase fuel economy from the current 27.5 miles per gallon to 35.7 miles per gallon by 2015. For light trucks, the proposal calls for increases from 23.5 miles per gallon in 2010 to 28.6 miles per gallon in 2015.
