AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
By John O'Dell September 28, 2011
This week’s planned release of proposed rules for implementing a 54.5 miles-per-gallon corporate average fuel efficiency (CAFE) standard for U.S. passenger cars and trucks by 2025 has been delayed until mid-November. The proposal -- expected to run more than 700 pages -- was to have been released Friday. Citing difficulties coordinating all the players, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said late Tuesday that additional time is needed. NHTSA and the EPA are drafting the rules jointly with considerable input from the California Air Resources Board.
The tough new CAFE rules would establish 2025 fuel economy standards equal to about 40 miles per gallon on the EPA window sticker that consumers use to calculate fuel economy. It was agreed to by most major automakers in July. The voluminous implementing rules include numerous credits for new fuel efficiency technologies. That will give most car companies “wiggle room” to miss hitting the 54.5 mpg standard by several miles per gallon. Once the proposed rules are released there will be a public comment period and then the agencies will draft a set of final regulations. Those are due to be issued in July 2012 and to be phased in for 2025 model-year vehicles beginning in the 2017 model year.
California is deeply involved in the federal rulemaking process because the state is allowed under federal law to formulate separate air quality rules if it doesn’t like what the EPA is doing. That includes greenhouse gas emissions standards. Because greenhouse gas emissions are directly related to the mount of carbon-based fuel burned per mile traveled, California regulators consider federal fuel efficiency standards to be a form of air quality regulation. In recent years, the state approved a tough set of local rules that automakers said would create a financial hardship by requiring them to build cars to meet two separate fuel efficiency standards. In subsequent negotiations with the industry and the White House, California regulators agreed to coordinate the state’s regulations with the federal CAFE rules. There was no indication Tuesday whether the CAFE rules delay was caused by a last-minute disagreement between California and federal regulators.
John O'Dell: is an AutoObserver Senior Editor. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter.
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