August, 05 2021, 09:37am EDT


For Immediate Release
Contact:
Morgan Folger, Environment America Destination: Zero Carbon Campaign Director, mfolger@environmentamerica.org
John Stout, U.S. PIRG Transportation Advocate, jstout@pirg.org
Josh Chetwynd, Communications Manager, jchetwynd@
Statement: Biden proposes partial restoration of Clean Car Standards
However, federal fuel economy and vehicle emissions standards must do more to protect health, environment
WASHINGTON
To promote clean air and cut transportation greenhouse gas emissions, the Biden administration is expected to announce plans Thursday to strengthen federal fuel economy and emissions standards for vehicles.
Early reports say that the proposed rule will start with an annual 3.7 percent increase in fuel economy, mirroring the agreement made between California and five automakers in 2020. By model year 2025, the standards will require 5 percent annual improvements, similar to those agreed to by automakers in 2012. Automakers have argued for weaker standards over the past 5 years, despite the impacts of cars on our health and environment.
Vehicle tailpipes are a major source of health-harming air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. After seven years of decline, air pollution started rising in 2016. By 2018, 108 million Americans lived in areas that experienced more than 100 days of degraded air quality.
U.S. PIRG and Environment America called on Biden to strengthen fuel economy and emission standards in the report "First Things to Fix," which outlined 20 popular environmental protections the president should enact during his first days in office.
Experts from Environment America and U.S. PIRG issued the following statements:
"This proposal is headed in a better direction, but the Biden administration can and should be more ambitious," said Environment America Destination: Zero Carbon Campaign Director Morgan Folger. "Over 5 years ago, the Obama-Biden administration took the strongest federal action to reduce global warming pollution in history, only to be stalled out by the automakers reneging on their promise. As pollution increased over the past half-decade, the wildfire season has lengthened and grown more intense, coastal communities have been torn apart by destructive hurricanes fueled by warmer oceans, and inland communities have seen more than their fair share of 100-year floods. We can't turn back the clock 5 years, so we have to go even faster to zero out pollution from our cars and trucks and solve this climate crisis."
"Our country's car-centric transportation system is wreaking havoc on our health and the climate," said U.S. PIRG Transportation Advocate John Stout. "Not only do our carbon-spewing cars account for the majority of America's climate-harming emissions, but the pollution they emit also cuts short an estimated 58,000 American lives each year. Stronger fuel efficiency standards are better for our environment, public health and for consumers, as they can save people thousands of dollars every year. While we applaud this effort by the Biden administration, we believe it is only the first mile marker on the road to a zero-emission transportation network fit for the 21st century."
With Environment America, you protect the places that all of us love and promote core environmental values, such as clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and clean energy to power our lives. We're a national network of 29 state environmental groups with members and supporters in every state. Together, we focus on timely, targeted action that wins tangible improvements in the quality of our environment and our lives.
(303) 801-0581U.S. PIRG, the federation of state Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs), stands up to powerful special interests on behalf of the American public, working to win concrete results for our health and our well-being. With a strong network of researchers, advocates, organizers and students in state capitols across the country, we take on the special interests on issues, such as product safety,political corruption, prescription drugs and voting rights,where these interests stand in the way of reform and progress.
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Warning: Photos shows image of death
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