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The 42-MPG Era Is Here: Obama's New Fuel Economy Rules Coming Tomorrow

The 42-MPG Era Is Here: Obama's New Fuel Economy Rules Coming Tomorrow

By Marty Padgett's avatar Marty PadgettMarty Padgett May 18th, 2009

2011 Chevrolet Volt Production Show Car

2011 Chevrolet Volt Production Show Car

Enlarge Photo

America's car and trucks will be subject to a much tougher fuel economy standard, if President Obama's new plan to fuse the current Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mileage standards to a proposed California mileage rule becomes law.

The New York Times reports today that the President will essentially cut off debate on tougher fuel economy regulations by asking the EPA to adopt a 42-mpg fuel economy figure for passenger cars in 2016--essentially the same levels that a new California mandate would create if it were enacted.

The state of California has been trying to set its own emissions standards in a long-brewing court case between its California Air Resources Board and the federal government. The state asserts it has the right to set emissions standards in its own borders, emissions that include carbon dioxide. The state has proposed a set of CO2 regulations that would effectively require passenger-car fleets to average 42 miles per gallon. Under the Bush administration, the automakers sued to assert that only the EPA had the authority to create fuel-economy standards. The Bush EPA actually raised CAFE standards and proposed new mileage requirements for 35-mpg passenger cars, but California pursued its plan in parallel and in court.

The Obama administration will announce tomorrow that it will blend the new California standards with existing Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) rules into one standard for 2016. The new national standard, the Times says, will make cars and trucks 30 percent cleaner than today's new vehicles.

The Times adds that light trucks would have to meet a 26.2-mpg standard, and that automakers will not challenge the rules so long as there is a fixed timetable and a national standard for the rules.

Left unexplained: how the new standards won't send buyers back into the trucks and SUVs that fueled the new vehicle market in the early 2000s. Also left open for discussion: whether new hybrids like the 2011 Chevrolet Volt will count toward 42-mpg status and under what emissions test they will be rated.

Will buyers take a second spin at HUMMERs if gas prices are low and cars are smaller and slower as a result of new standards? We'll bring you more as the new regulations are released.

[New York Times]

2011 Chevrolet Volt Production Show CarEnlarge Photo America's car and trucks will be subject to a much tougher fuel economy standard, if President Obama's new plan to fuse the current Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mileage standards to a proposed California mileage rule becomes law. The New York Times reports today that the President will essentially cut off debate on tougher fuel economy regulations by asking the EPA to adopt a 42-mpg fuel economy figure for passenger cars in 2016--essentially the same levels that a new California mandate would create if it were enacted. The state of California has been trying to set its own emissions standards in a long-brewing court case between its California Air Resources Board and the federal government. The state asserts it has the right to set emissions standards in its own borders, emissions that include carbon dioxide. The state has proposed a set of CO2 regulations that would effectively require passenger-car fleets to average 42 miles per gallon. Under the Bush administration, the automakers sued to assert that only the EPA had the authority to create fuel-economy standards. The Bush EPA actually raised CAFE standards and proposed new mileage requirements for 35-mpg passenger cars, but California pursued its plan in parallel and in court. The Obama administration will announce tomorrow that it will blend the new California standards with existing Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) rules into one standard for 2016. The new national standard, the Times says, will make cars and trucks 30 percent cleaner than today's new vehicles. The Times adds that light trucks would have to meet a 26.2-mpg standard, and that automakers will not challenge the rules so long as there is a fixed timetable and a national standard for the rules. Left unexplained: how the new standards won't send buyers back into the trucks and SUVs that fueled the new vehicle market in the early 2000s. Also left open for discussion: whether new hybrids like the 2011 Chevrolet Volt will count toward 42-mpg status and under what emissions test they will be rated. Will buyers take a second spin at HUMMERs if gas prices are low and cars are smaller and slower as a result of new standards? We'll bring you more as the new regulations are released. [New York Times]

Tags: Green, Environmental, Industry, Politics



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Responses (12 total)

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  2. 2

  1. By R2dad #1, Posted: 5/18/2009

    lawyer suckage....

    One again, spineless politicians, fearful of unpopular legislation to create demand for these cars (i.e. another, bigger gas tax), opt for pushing a string instead. "We'll make these naughty car companies make green cars, or else we'll fine them". Well, only PROFITABLE car companies can pay fines, so NOW what? You can fire GM management every 9 months, spend another $50B for life support, sell millions of EVs and STILL GM won't make a profit. So the only remaining escape hatch: each EV car gets the equivalent of 200 MPG. Voila, math problem solved. All of a sudden Detroit is as green as can be, and Congress can claim they've saved the planet from environmental Armageddon.

  2. By Fat Pat #2, Posted: 5/18/2009

    Hurry, quick, not a moment to lose....

    ....save the planet, it's a catastrophe.....CARBON!! it's killing us all!!.....we've got to increase the mileage to cool the planet....quick!...cap and trade!....EPA sez CO2 is a pollutant!....they must be right...right? Quick!!..pass the leg'...hurry...before the house the cards crumbles. The 'science' is 'settled'
    ...the 'debate' is over. Thus spake Gore-acle.

  3. By Reece #3, Posted: 5/18/2009

    Why bother

    If this is the way of the future save your billions just kill off GM and Chrysler now, they will not survive a 42 mpg world, unless as R2Dad says they can count a volt as being 200mpg or something similar. If I were you guys I'd buy a pair of Camaros and lock them away, the end of affordable fund driving is here as of 2016. ALl the while the big polluters in industry keep pumping out the bad stuff and nothing real is done about global warming. I know know what it feels like to be a smoker, as soemone who enjoys driving and enjoys car, its like you are a lepper!

  4. By JKD #4, Posted: 5/18/2009

    GM is going to be alright!

    They'll rebadge more Korean cars and bring some cheap crap from China by 2011 and they'll sell a ton of them to the unemployed and desperate Americans.

  5. By Kevin Horn #5, Posted: 5/19/2009

    Mr.

    I think we should out law marathons. Not sure of the exact math, but all those runners have to emitting tons of CO2. Nothing like having uncle sam tell you what car we should be driving.

  6. By Kevin Horn #6, Posted: 5/19/2009

    Mr.

    I think we should out law marathons. Not sure of the exact math, but all those runners have to emitting tons of CO2. Nothing like having uncle sam tell you what car we should be driving.

  7. By Fat Pat #7, Posted: 5/19/2009

    This just in, C02 isn't a pollutant.....

    .....for all those that 'want to do something about global warming'....oops, silly me, 'climate change'....yes, let's fight climate change.....so that's
    'any change'?...just 'change'?....even if it continues to cool, like it's been for a decade....just fight 'change'? Yes, the EPA & Barack & i guess the Governator
    want those 42mpg cars out so we can all fight 'climate
    change'....any climate change at all.....warm, cold...etc...you got it baby!...42mpg will help stop that dang ol climate from 'changing'.
    The house of cards is crumbling.

  8. By  Lake County #8, Posted: 5/19/2009

    Benefit of the doubt

    I can understand people saying things like "We don't know if humans are causing climate change" But the thing is if we are changing the climate and if the things that the scientist are saying will happen do happen then we are all in trouble. It's kinda like saying, I'm not sure that Lion would eat me if I jumped in the change with him...so I'll take my chances....whats the worst that can happen.

  9. By  Tom #9, Posted: 5/19/2009

    A good start

    Seems to me this is a pretty good start along the road to reducing GHG emissions. OK so it's not going to be popular right now, but once companies have to invest in green technology the prices will come down, and then it'll actually be cheaper to have a green vehicle...

  10. By  Speedzzter #10, Posted: 5/19/2009

    The End of Automotive Liberty

    The automakers, Obama-nator and Governator have destroyed what’s
    left of automotive liberty in America.
    While all-aluminum and carbon fiber SUVs may still be available to
    the Range Rover class of buyers, regular folks who punch a clock for
    a paycheck will be priced out of the market. And with the idiotic
    giveaway known as “cash for clunkers,” the supply of used SUVs
    will be decimated.
    What’s worse, the aluminum and carbon fiber SUVs will drive many
    high performance cars off the road — Cars that would have been
    built in a free market.
    The 35.5 m.p.g. fleet average will force a 42 m.p.g. average for
    cars. There won’t be anything remotely like an M3 or a Shelby GT500
    as we know it possible under that freedom-killing plan.
    The elite journalists parrot the line that the average cost of
    compliance to be passed along to consumers is $1,300.00 per vehicle.
    Which means that for low-volume sporting and high-performance
    vehicles, the cost of compliance will be $5,000.00-$10,000.00 or
    more. Moreover, volume limitations inherent in an “average” will
    mean that OEM and dealer gouging will be rampant for anything that
    remotely resembles a “performance” car.
    Thus, the liberty of regular wage-earners to purchase a large SUV or
    a high performance car is being regulated away.
    SOME OF US DO NOT WANT A “FOUR” OR A “SIX.” For those who
    have dreamed the American dream, played by the rules, struggled and
    saved up for a chance at the torque, power, rumble, and aural
    symphony of a V8 (or even an exotic v10 or V12), that future is being
    destroyed by the Obamaniacs. A “sealed-for-your-protection”
    EcoBoost six or four simply won’t cut it.
    Those who want a private jet, or a light aircraft, or a yacht, or
    energy-intensive vacations on cruise ships, or even a classic V-twin
    motorcycle instead of an affordable V8 muscle car will still be able
    to pursue their carbon-emitting dreams with abandon. But Socialist
    Obama and RINO Schwarzenegger have singled hot rodders, grassroots
    racers, V8 enthusiasts and the automotive culture to bear the
    lions-share of the quasi-religious “jihad” against the
    “anthropogenic climate change” bogeyman.
    Sadly, elite journalists (and some autobloggers) simply don’t
    understand all of that. Or if they do, they simply don’t care.
    Under the quick Obama-nator time-frame, V8 muscle cars are most
    certainly going to be slaughtered in the headlong rush to build
    soulless, happy, smiley FWD Obamamobiles that are acceptable the
    appliance motorist greeniacs and their steroid-addled RINO lap-dog,
    California Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger.
    Detroit, humiliated, humbled and beholden to corporate welfare will
    meekly comply, mostly out of the horror that could have arisen had
    the 9th Circuit and the soon-to-be Obama-ized Supreme Court had
    permitted the Peoples’ Republic of California and thirteen other
    freedom-hating fellow-traveler police states to set their own fuel
    economy standards.
    Thus, the long, gloomy nightmare that will be a redux of the 1970s,
    albeit about ten times more expensive and repressive this time, has
    now been assured.
    For some of us, the environmentalists will get our “antique” V8s
    only as they pry the pistol-grip shifters out of our cold-dead hands.
    We are too old to wait out this long, dark, repressive nightmare. They
    may crush our collector cars and our bank accounts, but the power-mad
    looter vermin in charge will never crush our spirit and our
    resourcefullness.
    Others, someday, may anticipate a new birth of vehicular freedom.
    Whether it occurs is up to a number daunting factors, such as
    advancements in alternative fuel technology, geopolitics and whether
    a sufficient number of courageous, freedom-loving voters can
    overthrow this approaching midnight of our discontent.
    While the smokey, back-room Obama-Schwartzenegger-Enviornmentalisti
    power grab will dissuade millions of casual automobile enthusiasts
    from any defiance (mostly because pre-packaged muscle and sports cars
    will soon become neutered, sanitized, homogenized, and priced
    out-of-reach), a defiant core of resourceful believers in vehicular
    freedom and self-determination will reject the compromised,
    store-bought motoring appliances and hack together “freedom
    machines” that send but one unmistakable message to those who would
    attempt to crush our liberty and our dreams.
    While the going will become much tougher and the way less traveled,
    rest assured that some of us will keep on keeping on, if only to
    gouge the eyes of the “Governator,” the Obama-nator, and other
    pansies of motoring.

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