Second Auto Group Urges EPA to Shelve CO2 Emission Proposal

A second trade group is urging the Environmental Protection Agency to withdraw its defense of emission rules that would push average fuel economy to more than 50 mpg by 2025.

The plea comes from the Assn. of Global Automakers, a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying group that represents a dozen foreign carmakers. The association wants EPA to withdraw its Nov. 30 proposal to retain the current regulatory plan.

The rules have a built-in review that is underway now. EPA has until April 2018 to confirm or modify the existing schedule, which would significantly tighten carbon dioxide emission limits between 2022 and 2025.

On Monday the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers made an unsuccessful bid to include language in a Congressional budget bill that would prevent EPA from finalizing its decision until after president-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20. Trump has indicated he favors rolling back the 2025 standards.

Carmakers insist the targets are too difficult to meet, especially since cheap gasoline has prompted consumers to buy more trucks and far fewer high-efficiency small cars than the government estimated when the standards were set in 2011. EPA claims the standards can be met with current technologies.