Washington (April 12, 2023) - U.S. Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate, and Nuclear Safety, and Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) today released the following statement after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced two proposed rules to curb greenhouse gases and other emissions from light- and heavy-duty vehicles for Model Year 2027 and after.

“We applaud the EPA for taking these necessary steps to curb emissions from light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicles and accelerate the transition to zero-emission vehicles. These rules will set us on a path to protect public health, save drivers’ money, and clean up our air—particularly for low-income and other disadvantaged communities near freight corridors that shoulder the biggest burden of harmful air pollution.

“While today’s announcement makes major progress in mitigating the transportation sector’s impact on our climate, we also recognize there is more we can—and must—be doing. As we called for earlier this year, we will continue to push the EPA to finalize the most effective proposals possible by the end of 2023. Finalizing these standards by the end of the year will give affected industries regulatory certainty, create high-quality jobs, position the United States as a leader in zero-emission vehicle technology, and achieve long-overdue protections for our communities. These rules are sensible and attainable—particularly with the significant investments passed by Congress in the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act—and we urge EPA to finalize high-ambition rules without further delay.”

In November 2021, Senators Markey, Padilla, and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Representative Doris Matsui (CA-07) led a letter to the EPA to strengthen vehicle emissions standards for passenger cars and light trucks for Model Years 2023 through 2026. Last December, Senator Markey celebrated the U.S. Postal Service’s dramatic transition to an electrified mail delivery fleet by 2026 after calling on the Postal Service to ramp up electrification efforts of its mail delivery fleet.

Senator Markey has been a fuel economy champion since standards were enabled by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which included fuel economy language co-authored by then-Rep. Markey. That law included Senator Markey’s language that set the standard to at least 35 mpg by 2020 and required the “maximum feasible standard” to be set every year. During the Trump administration, Senator Markey reintroduced the Greener Air Standards Mean Our National Security, Environment, and Youth (GAS MONEY) Saved Act, which would block efforts to roll back fuel economy and vehicle emission standards.

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