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Obama Rolls Out Tougher MPG Rules

New plan sets uniform national standard

By Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.com

May 19, 2009

The Obama Administration is raising U.S. automotive fuel mileage standards, requiring the average vehicle to get at least 35 miles per gallon by 2016.

Under the plan, cars would have to get 39 mpg and trucks 30 mpg.

The White House said it was able to bring industry and consumer groups into agreement on the standard without a lot of wrangling. Under the present system, the federal government has one set of standards while some states have others governing emissions. The concern was this was not only confusing, but could lead to lawsuits.

“You've heard the industry discuss on many occasions having a certainty in the standards that are desired,” said White House News Secretary Robert Gibbs.

Gibbs said Administration officials listened to input from all sides before crafting the new mileage and pollution regulations and setting a 2016 start date.

The new regulations are similar to those California has tried to put into place. That effort received opposition in the past from the auto industry and the Bush Administration.

The single new standard, which will be phased in starting in 2012, is designed at improving fuel efficiency by 40 percent by 2016. Auto industry executives say they support this plan, while opposing past efforts, because this one allows sufficient time to adapt to a single national standard.

As a result of the Obama Administration plan, California will withdraw its petition to toughen its state standards.

California first advanced its plan seven years ago, but the Bush Administration declined to grant the state a waiver from the current, and less stringent, federal regulations on mileage and pollution.

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