EPA to Ease Automobile Fuel Efficiency Standards

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt suggested this week that the EPA won’t renew Obama-era Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for cars and light trucks when the program is scheduled to end in 2025. The Obama Administration initially set 50 miles per gallon as an across the board fleet-wide target by 2025. However, the target may never be met because the EPA is currently considering a reduction in CAFE standards already in place for 2022 through 2025.

Pruitt says he is taking the action because the market for clean cars hasn’t materialized as expected. Consumers are buying trucks and SUVs in record numbers while more fuel-efficient passenger cars and electric vehicle sales plummet. Pruitt’s plan will essentially end the federal fuel efficiency program first initiated in 2008. It will also set up a historic clash between the federal government and California which establishes its own strict mpg standards.

California accounts for roughly 12 percent of new vehicle registrations annually, giving the state an outsized influence that largely dictates the standards by which auto manufacturers build cars. The Obama Administration aligned federal goals with California standards in 2008, temporarily resolving the federal/state regulatory conflict. Pruitt has already indicated that California “shouldn’t and can’t dictate to the rest of the country what these levels are going to be.” Bringing California into line would require eliminating the state's 50-year history of regulating mileage standards and vehicle emissions within its borders by revoking dozens of current waivers spanning decades.

California Air Resources Board (CARB) vows to fight revocation of its Clean Air Act waiver authority.