Attorney General Charity Clark has joined a coalition of 21 attorneys general, four cities, and one county in submitting a comment letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opposing its proposed changes to corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards for passenger cars and light trucks. The group argues that weakening these standards would be unlawful and have negative consequences for consumers and the environment.
The Energy Policy and Conservation Act, passed by Congress in 1975, requires NHTSA to set “maximum feasible” fuel economy standards. When setting these standards, NHTSA is required to consider technological feasibility, economic practicability, other government motor vehicle standards, and the need to conserve energy. In previous rulemakings—including during the first Trump Administration—NHTSA included electric vehicles already on U.S. roads as part of its baseline fleet when modeling future standards.
According to the coalition’s letter, the current proposal misinterprets NHTSA’s authority by excluding electric vehicles from its analysis. This exclusion results in what they describe as a distorted assessment of what level of fuel economy is realistically achievable by automakers. The letter also claims that NHTSA used flawed analyses regarding vehicle affordability, sales trends, fleet turnover rates, fuel savings estimates, and vehicle safety impacts.
The coalition contends that under the new proposal billions of dollars in potential consumer savings at gas stations would instead benefit oil companies. They also criticize NHTSA for not accounting for projected damages from climate change-related disasters or considering the ongoing need for energy conservation despite high gasoline prices and global oil market instability.
Attorney General Clark was joined in this action by attorneys general from Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island Washington and Wisconsin; as well as representatives from Chicago Denver New York City San Francisco city and county.
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