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The leaders of the nation’s largest environmental groups today asked President Obama to create long-term relief for drivers at the pump by delivering the strongest fuel-efficiency and auto pollution standards for new vehicles currently under consideration. The administration will propose new fuel efficiency and auto pollution standards this September, with key decisions being made this summer. The request came in a letter signed by 34 environmental, science, and public health organizations, including the Union of Concerned Scientists, Environment America, Sierra Club and Republicans for Environmental Protection.
Rejecting the erroneous assertion that the only way to offer relief for American drivers struggling with near-$4 a gallon gasoline is to expand domestic drilling, the leaders of the organizations said today that the best chance the president has to create long-term fuel savings is to demand that new vehicles use the fuel they consume as efficiently as possible. Last week, Environment America released a new report that found that if cars and trucks achieved a 60 miles-per-gallon (mpg) standard at today’s current gas prices, the average American family would save $513 at the gas pump this summer.
According to the groups’ joint letter to President Obama, the strongest standards under consideration would reduce “U.S. oil consumption 2.5 million barrels of oil per day in 2030 – almost 50 percent more oil than we imported last year from the Persian Gulf. The strongest standards also protect our health and environment by preventing two times more global warming pollution than the weakest proposal. That is as much pollution as all of America’s cars and light trucks release in over two years.”