Rolling-back EPA’s strong standards will undermine national security, consumer savings, and climate pollution reductions

Washington (March 14, 2017) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, released the following statement in anticipation of an announcement today from President Donald Trump and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt that they are withdrawing EPA’s final determination on fuel economy emissions standards for model year 2022-2025 cars and light trucks. The Obama administration’s historic 54.5 mpg standard was partially enabled by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which included fuel economy standards co-authored by Senator Markey when he was in the House of Representatives.

“Filling up their cars and trucks is the energy bill Americans pay most often, but President Trump’s roll-back of fuel economy emissions standards means families will end up paying more at the pump,” said Senator Markey. “Making this U-turn on fuel economy is the wrong way to go for our security, economy and environment. Undoing the fuel economy standards will also lead to costly litigation and create needless uncertainty for the auto industry, threatening the economic and employment gains automakers have made in recent years. Innovation has been driving our historic progress on fuel economy, and we cannot let Donald Trump put us in reverse.”

Since reaching an historic agreement with the Obama administration and state leaders, the auto industry has gone from the brink of economic disaster to record auto sales in 2015 and 2016, including adding 700,000 U.S. jobs. The average fuel efficiency of vehicles has already gone up five miles per gallon, saving drivers nearly $35 billion. The EPA has found that the net benefits of the fuel economy standards are nearly $100 billion and would reduce oil consumption by 1.2 billion barrels.

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