During a visit to Detroit last year, President Trump announced his administration would assess and correct the current vehicle fuel-economy standards, which impose significant costs on American consumers and eliminate jobs. The administration is continuing to deliver on that promise. On Thursday the Transportation Department and Environmental Protection Agency are announcing a joint proposal to update the national automobile fuel-economy and greenhouse-gas standards to give consumers greater access to safer, more affordable vehicles, while continuing to protect the environment.
The joint proposal lays out eight options for new national fuel-economy standards for model years 2021-26. All interested parties are asked to weigh in with their views. The goal is to get it right—to create one national standard that is technologically feasible and economically practicable, while promoting energy conservation, furthering other environmental goals, and preserving consumer choice. The administration’s proposed option would lock in the 2020 standards until 2026, because the analysis of our agencies suggests that those standards strike the appropriate regulatory balance between vehicle improvements, environmental benefits and safety.
There are compelling reasons for a new rulemaking. The standards implemented by the previous administration raised the cost and decreased the supply of newer, safer vehicles. The government also previously failed to conduct a midterm review in the manner promised. Customers’ preferences have also changed since the current standards were introduced.
Read the full op-ed in The Wall Street Journal.
Elaine Chao is the Secretary of Transportation. Andrew Wheeler is acting EPA Administrator.
