WASHINGTON (Jan. 13, 2017) — The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has decided to maintain the current greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards for cars and light trucks in the 2022-2025 model years.
"The final determination finds that a wide variety of effective technologies are available to reduce GHG emissions from cars and light trucks, and that automakers are well positioned to meet the standards through model year 2025 at lower costs than predicted," the EPA said in a Jan. 13 press release.
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said she based her decision on factors including more than eight years of research, hundreds of published reports, an independent review by the National Academy of Sciences and hundreds of stakeholder meetings.
The agency expects the GHG standards to result in average fleet-wide consumer fuel economy of 36 miles per gallon by 2025, it said.
Meanwhile, a consumer group said its latest poll showed strong bipartisan support for tighter fuel economy standards.
The Consumer Federation of America announced that its latest survey, conducted in mid-December 2016, showed that two-thirds of Donald Trump voters and four-fifths of Hillary Clinton voters support strong fuel-economy standards.
"This is a pocketbook issue for American voters," said Jack Gillis, CFA director of public affairs. "Consumers across the board want more miles per gallon, and they understand that national standards provide automakers with sensible targets they otherwise might not achieve.
"Gas prices are low, but they won't always stay this low."