Markey: New Fuel Economy Rules Makes this “April Fuels Day"
House Author of Standards Releases Report Demonstrating New Fuel Economy-Setting Regime Is Cheaper, Better; Calls on President to Continue Progress Past 2016
The Obama administration today released the final roadmap for America’s cars and trucks to reach more than 35 miles per gallon in average fuel efficiency by 2016 and reduce their heat-trapping tailpipe emissions.
Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), co-author of the fuel economy standards that passed Congress in 2007 that are being accelerated and finalized today, released a report showing how the new regulatory system for America’s vehicles is cheaper and more effective for America’s consumers and will increase energy independence. Rep. Markey called on the President to set vehicle standards farther in the future than 2016.
“April Fools Day is usually reserved for practical jokes, but today’s April Fuels Day shows how a practical program can help America’s consumers and national security,” said Rep. Markey, Chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. “In just a few years, American consumers won’t feel like the joke’s on them when they tally up their gasoline costs.”
In conjunction with the finalization of the fuel economy rules, Rep. Markey released a report by the Government Accountability Office that shows that the new fuel economy regulatory partnership between the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency creates cheaper fuel efficient vehicles by minimizing costs for companies. The GAO report also called for the formalization of the NHTSA--EPA partnership.
Citing the success of this new partnership highlighted in the report, Rep. Markey called on the Obama administration to immediately move to set new fuel efficiency standards past 2016.
The GAO report is available here
“Our fuel economy flatlined for two decades, causing our dependence on foreign oil to skyrocket,” said Rep. Markey. “We can’t allow history to repeat itself. President Obama should take this success and build on it by extending new, aggressive fuel economy standards past the next half decade.”
The new fuel economy standards finalized today will save 1.8 billion barrels of oil over the life of the program, and reduce 900 million metric tons of heat-trapping emissions. And a vehicle bought in 2016 will save an American family $3,000 over the life of the vehicle, even after including the cost of any fuel-saving technology.
Rep. Markey sent a letter to President Obama today congratulating him on these new standards, and encouraging him to advance the standards past 2016.
The Select Committee was active during the 110th and 111th Congresses. This is an archived version of the website, to ensure that the public has ongoing access to the Select Committee record. This website, including external links, will not be updated after Jan. 3rd, 2010.
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