EPA Convenes Public Hearings on First U.S. Greenhouse Gas Pollution Standards

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:
Tony Kreindler, National Media Director, Climate, 202-445-8108, tkreindler@edf.org
Vickie Patton, Deputy General Counsel, 720-837-6239, vpatton@edf.org

Public Hearings Convene on First U.S. Greenhouse Gas Pollution Standards

New Car Standards Will Strengthen Nation’s Security While Reducing Pollution

(Washington – October 20, 2009) Public hearings commence this week on the nation’s first greenhouse gas pollution standards. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Transportation (DOT) officials will hear public testimony on proposed new historic fuel economy benchmarks and national greenhouse gas emissions limits for passenger vehicles: October 21st in Detroit, October 23rd in New York City, and October 27th in Los Angeles. For more information on the public hearings, click here. 

“This bold initiative begins to break our nation’s addiction to foreign oil while reducing dangerous global warming pollution,” said Vickie Patton, Deputy General Counsel, Environmental Defense Fund. “The President forged this landmark agreement with car companies, labor, states, and environmentalists to provide a safe, secure and prosperous future for our kids.”

The national proposal responds to a 2007 U.S. Supreme Court mandate and will carry out President Obama’s landmark May 19th accord with major automakers, the Governor of California, the United Auto Workers Union, and environmentalists. Passenger cars and light-trucks emit nearly 20 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gases in the form of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and hydrofluorocarbons. In April, EPA provisionally found that these four contaminants and two other greenhouse gases endanger human health and welfare.

The proposed standards from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation would apply to new model year 2012 to 2016 vehicles. Benefits include:

• Breaking Our Oil Addiction, Strengthening National Security. The vehicles subject to these proposed standards are responsible for about 40 percent of all U.S. oil consumption. The standards would reduce our consumption of oil by 1.8 billion barrels while achieving a 5 percent annual improvement in fuel efficiency for the nation’s passenger vehicle fleet.
• Reducing Global Warming Pollution. The vehicles covered by the proposed standards account for 60 percent of heat-trapping emissions from the transportation sector and about 20 percent of all U.S. heat-trapping gases. These emissions have increased by more than one percent annually. The proposal would cut carbon dioxide pollution from passenger vehicles approximately 21 percent by 2030, reducing emissions by 950 million tons.
• Saving Families Money at the Pump. The proposed standards will provide dividends in fuel savings at the pump for America’s families. Families who finance a new vehicle purchase will save an estimated $12 to $14 per month over the duration of the loan. The estimated overall cost savings over the life of the vehicle are more than $3,000.

The proposed standards can be met with today’s technology. In a 2008 Bush-era report, EPA staff experts analyzed technologies to reduce greenhouse gases from passenger cars and light trucks (See EPA Staff Technical Report: Cost and Effectiveness Estimates of Technologies Used to Reduce Light-duty Vehicle Carbon Dioxide Emissions, EPA 420-R-08-008, March 2008.)

Produced for the National Research Council, the report identified more than two dozen technologies in production or impending that can be deployed to cut greenhouse gases and improve fuel economy. The bottom line: “EPA technical staff concludes there are a large number of technologies which can be applied to cars and trucks that are capable of achieving significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and improve vehicle fuel economy, at reasonable costs.”

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Environmental Defense Fund, a leading national nonprofit organization, represents more than 700,000 members. Since 1967, Environmental Defense Fund has linked science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships to create breakthrough solutions to the most serious environmental problems. For more information, visit www.edf.org.