Court Throws Out Bush Fuel Economy Standards

Court Throws Out Bush Fuel Economy Standards



November 2007 
 The Bush 
administration's fuel economy standards for many sport utility vehicles, 
minivans and pickup trucks have been rejected by a federal appeals court 
because they set a zero value on reducing emissions of carbon dioxide that 
cause global warming. 
Thursday, the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals sided with 11 states and 
five environmental groups who argued federal regulators ignored the 
effects of carbon dioxide emissions when determining fuel economy 
standards for light trucks. 
The court sent its decision back to the National Highway Traffic Safety 
Administration, NHTSA, for a full Environmental Review of the gas mileage 
standards. 
The ruling, written by Senior Circuit Judge Betty Binns Fletcher, found 
against the administration's decision to exempt SUVs and light trucks from 
fuel-economy standards. 
"That class 2b trucks have never been regulated by NHTSA is not a reason 
for not regulating them now. We remand to NHTSA to revisit this issue and 
promulgate average fuel economy standards for these vehicles, or to 
provide a validly reasoned basis for continuing to exclude them from the 
regulation." 

"This ruling is a big help in holding the Bush administration accountable 
for its refusal to accept the realities of global warming and forcing it 
to start taking responsible actions to implement the obvious solutions," 
said Kassie Siegel, who directs the Climate, Air, and Energy program for 
the Center for Biological Diversity, the lead plaintiff in the case.. 
"Raising fuel-economy standards is one of the most effective actions the 
government can take to quickly and significantly reduce greenhouse gas 
pollution. There's no reason SUVs and light trucks should be exempt from 
these standards," Siegel said. 
The case, filed on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity by the 
Stanford Environmental Law Clinic, is consolidated with similar challenges 
by California, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, 
New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, District of Columbia, the city of 
New York, and four other public interest groups, the Sierra Club, Natural 
Resources Defense Council, Public Citizen, and Environmental Defense. 
The new mileage standards, announced in March 2006, required an increase 
in the average fuel economy for all passenger trucks sold in the United 
States from 22.2 miles per gallon to 23.5 miles per gallon by 2010. 
Under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, adopted four decades ago in 
response to the Arab oil crisis, the National Highway Traffic Safety 
Administrations sets gas mileage standards for motor vehicles. The Bush 
administration, ordered a one mile per gallon increase, from 22 to 23 
miles per gallon by 2010, and exempted SUVs and light trucks. 
Plaintiffs argued that the administration violated the Energy Policy and 
Conservation Act by setting low fuel-economy standards of 22.5, 23.1, and 
23.5 miles per gallon for upcoming model years 2008, 2009, and 2010 
respectively. 
Plaintiffs also argued that the Bush administration violated the National 
Environmental Policy Act by failing to consider greenhouse gas emissions 
and global warming before selecting the low mileage standards. 
California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. hailed the 9th Circuit's 
decision striking down national automobile mileage standards, calling it a 
"stunning rebuke" to the Bush administration's failed energy policies. 
Commenting on the decision Brown said, "This decision sends a clear 
message that the Congress must get serious about combating dangerous 
foreign oil dependency and global warming. This is a major victory." 
"This is an important victory in the fight against global warming," said 
Deborah Sivas, director of the Stanford Environmental Law Clinic and the 
attorney of record on the case. "It's hard to imagine a federal action 
more significant to the problem of climate change than one which dictates 
fuel-consumption standards." 
The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, AAM, an industry association 
representing the major automotive firms, commented, "Announced more than 
19 months ago the MY 2008-2011 light truck fuel economy rule represented 
the largest fuel economy increase in the history of the CAFE [Corporate 
Average Fuel Economy] program. It has become the basis for product 
planning through 2011. Any further changes to the program would only delay 
the progress that manufacturers have made towards increasing fleet wide 
fuel economy." 
"The federal government and the automobile industry should have embraced 
higher fuel economy standards years ago," said David Doniger, policy 
director of the Climate Center at the Natural Resources Defense Council, 
NRDC, and an attorney on the case. 
"The U.S. auto industry is having a tough time today because Detroit's top 
management spent years hiding from the future," he said. "Well, the future 
is now. We have the technology to do this, and it's time we got started." 
"Better fuel economy makes this country more secure, cuts dangerous global 
warming pollution, and saves consumers billions of dollars a year," said 
Doniger. "With the price of oil creeping up to $100 a barrel we need more 
efficient cars and trucks." 
The AAM says its members are working towards more efficient vehicles. 
"Automakers support aggressive fuel economy increases that would raise the 
standards for all vehicles to as much as 35 miles per gallon by 2022. We 
share the goal of an energy bill and CAFE standard that is good for the 
consumer, environment and energy security. We continue to believe such a 
bill can be reached with industry support." 
"This ruling comes at a key moment in our efforts to avoid the worst 
impacts of global warming," said Doniger. "The president has ordered the 
EPA to propose global warming standards by the end of the year, but White 
House officials are busy trying to water them down. The court's decision 
is a clear signal that it's time to set serious standards to cut global 
warming pollution." 

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