Washington (July 28, 2023)—Today, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued proposed new fuel economy rules for light- and medium-duty vehicles beyond model year 2026. These rules are a vital part of the federal government’s efforts to reduce oil use and put cleaner vehicles on the market and complement the proposed rules to limit vehicle emissions recently released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The final rules must be as strong as possible to spur the deployment of advanced technologies to conserve energy, save consumers money at the pump, and help reduce the climate-endangering pollution that results from burning oil, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).
Below is a statement by Dave Cooke, senior vehicles analyst for the Clean Transportation Program at UCS.
“This proposal comes at a critical time for the auto industry and the climate—a moment when the United States can take big strides toward the clean, efficient transportation of the future. Given the pace of technological change and urgent need to conserve energy, it’s clear that these standards could be even more ambitious than NHTSA’s proposal.
“Taken together, the EPA’s emissions standards and NHTSA’s fuel economy standards are the most effective policy in force to cut oil use and reduce global warming pollution. The EPA’s new proposed emissions rules would be the strongest such standards to date. NHTSA must meet the moment with final rules that deliver the most efficient vehicles possible to the market.”