March 31, 2018 - Washington—Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on Friday issued the following statement in response to reports the Trump administration is beginning to roll back the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) vehicle emission standards:

“The EPA is willfully ignoring the fact that these emission standards are working. Cars are becoming more fuel efficient and consumers are saving money at the pump.

“Now with a flip of the pen, the Trump administration wants to overturn an agreement between California and the federal government to set strong emission standards, ignoring years of careful negotiations and bipartisan congressional action.

“Senators Olympia Snowe, Maria Cantwell and I authored the bipartisan Ten-in-Ten Fuel Economy Act in 2007. Senate Commerce Chairman Daniel Inouye and Ranking Member Ted Stevens included our bill in the broader Energy Independence and Security Act which passed that year and President George W. Bush signed into law.

“Our landmark law requires fuel economy standards to increase by 10 mpg between 2010 and 2020. After 2020, the law requires the standards to be as strong as scientifically possible. The standards in place now are what Congress envisioned when it based our bipartisan bill.

“An unbiased, technical assessment revealed that automakers are exceeding the standards at lower costs than we expected, with even more highly-efficient technologies ready to be implemented. Right now, car manufacturers are on target to exceed 40 mpg by 2020 and 50 mpg by 2025. There simply is no reason to roll back that progress.

“I believe California won’t sit idly by while the Trump administration and the auto industry tries to create a common standard of mediocrity for car manufacturers.

“California has its own authority under the Clean Air Act to fight pollution. I fully support California, the largest auto market in the country, to use that authority to retain the achievements being made that will likely result in fuel efficiency of more than 50 mpg by 2025.

“And California’s standards are followed by a dozen other states, representing more than one-third of the entire auto market. If the Trump administration follows through with this threat, it will create confusion for the industry because manufacturers will have to meet two separate standards.

“The years of litigation and investment uncertainty will be far harder on the auto industry than simply living up to the fuel economy standards they once embraced.”
Source: Senator Dianne Feinstein