Coming clean

The scoop on Obama’s new fuel-economy rules 6

Cars on highwayOn May 19, President Barack Obama unveiled new standards to regulate fuel economy and greenhouse-gas emissions from cars and light trucks.  

The bottom line:  New automobiles will have to get better gas mileage

The numbers:

  • Current standards: 27.5 miles per gallon for cars and 24 mpg for light trucks
  • Starting in 2012, fuel efficiency will rise more than 5 percent each year
  • New standards for 2016:  39 mpg for cars and 30 mpg for light trucks—an overall average of about 35.5 mpg

The environmental benefits: 

  • Will save 1.8 billion barrels of oil over the life of the program
  • Will prevent 900 million metric tons of greenhouse-gas emissions
  • Will be like taking 177 million of today’s cars off the road, or shutting down 194 coal-fired power plants

Fans of the plan:

  • The major automakers, because they now have certainty and one clear set of regulations to follow
  • The major environmental groups, because the federal government is actually doing something to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions
  • California and 13 other states, because they have long wanted tougher auto emissions standards

Obama sings the plan’s praises:

In the past, an agreement such as this would have been considered impossible. That is why this announcement is so important, for it represents not only a change in policy in Washington, but the harbinger of a change in the way business is done in Washington. ... And at a time of historic crisis in our auto industry, this rule provides the clear certainty that will allow these companies to plan for a future in which they are building the cars of the 21st century.

Find out more:

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  1. mathewaccord Posted 9:54 pm
    19 May 2009

    i think this plan is a big step in the right direction. Well done Obama

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  2. Tyler Durden Posted 12:16 am
    20 May 2009

    This is a major improvement.  Now let's look at what other countries are doing:  Current European and Japanese standards are approximately 43.3 and 42.6
    mpg, respectively; China’s standard is 35.8 mpg this year.
    So, this has to just be a start, not the end of the process.  If these standards are not improved upon soon, U.S. cars will get worse gas mileage in 2016 than Chinese cars get today.  There's no excuse for this!  Americans must be weaned off their oversized pigmobiles, even if it's done with them kicking and screaming.

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  3. Delay And Deny's avatar

    Delay And Deny Posted 5:03 am
    20 May 2009

    Pocahontas has the right idea:http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/05/qorianka-kilcher-pocahontas-honda-fcx-clarity-fuel-cell-hydrogen-car-photos.phpGreen actress Q'orianka Kilcher, know for her role of Pocahontas, has been driving a first generation Honda FCX [hydrogen] fuel cell car since she was 17 (see photo below). But that was 2 years ago, and her lease was up, so she decided to renew with the new generation of Honda FCX Clarity.

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  4. davefordemocracy Posted 6:45 am
    20 May 2009

    All we hear about is mileage standards, but where are we talking about emissions?The California rule was about emissions, not mileage, and though it's true that the upshot is the same, the implementation is different. Every two years, Californians go to private stations to get smog tests. Will this be set up nationwide? Or will each automaker's fleet be spot checked before they hit the showrooms? There are a lot of ins and outs here, a lot of what-have-yous. Are mileage and emissions to be self-reported by the car companies?Why did the administration decide to regulate both? Who benefits from one or the other?

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  5. sialia Posted 12:37 pm
    20 May 2009

    Obamamobiles! http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124277581459836917.html 

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  6. Tyler Durden Posted 7:39 pm
    20 May 2009

    California's attempted rule -- that Bush disallowed but Obama has agreed to consider -- was aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.  The only way to do that is to increase fuel mileage, because all fuels burned, including biofuels, emit greenhouse gases and there is no known way to reduce those emissions without increasing fuel mileage.  Reduction of the types of emissions tested for in California smog tests, such as carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons, was not the goal of the proposed CA regulations to which you refer.

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