Obama’s 54.5 MPG U.S. Fuel-Economy Rule Delayed Until November
September 27, 2011, 10:34 PM EDTBy Angela Greiling Keane and Alan Ohnsman
Sept. 27 (Bloomberg) -- The Obama administration said it needs more time to issue a rule that would double fuel-economy standards for cars and light trucks in the U.S. by 2025.
The proposed rule, due out by Sept. 30, will take longer than planned to write and won’t be out until “mid-November,” Lynda Tran, a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration spokeswoman, said today in an e-mail.
President Barack Obama in July announced that he would raise the fleetwide fuel-economy average for passenger vehicles to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025 as part of his plan to reduce dependence on foreign oil. His administration negotiated the proposal, which would take effect in 2017, with automakers including General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp.
“Our team is working around the clock to make sure the language in our proposal reflects the administration’s goal of implementing an effective national program to reduce” greenhouse-gas emissions and improve fuel economy, Tran said.
Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign, a Washington-based group that advocates for higher fuel-economy standards, said he was told today by a White House official that there is “nothing nefarious” in pushing back the rule’s release date.
--Editors: Bernard Kohn, Jamie Butters
To contact the reporters on this story: Angela Greiling Keane in Washington at agreilingkea@bloomberg.net; Alan Ohnsman in Los Angeles at aohnsman@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jamie Butters at jbutters@bloomberg.net; Bernard Kohn at bkohn2@bloomberg.net
