Recent Regulatory Activities and Trends

Impacting Passenger Car Vehicles in North America

FUEL ECONOMY

CAFE Standards

The National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration (NHTSA) has requested a product plan for passenger cars and light trucks through Model Year (MY) 2017. (CAFE Reform Data Request Notice PDF). The agency sought comments and information regarding vehicle manufacturers' future product plans to aid in implementing the President's plan for reforming and increasing corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards for passenger cars and further increasing the already reformed light truck standards.  This information will be used to reform the passenger car CAFE program and to set standards under that structure for MY 2010-2017 passenger cars as well as standards for MY 2012-2017 light trucks.

Light Truck Standards

Under the final rule for Light Truck Standards, manufacturers may comply with CAFE standards established under the reformed structure (Reformed CAFE) or with standards established in the traditional way (Unreformed CAFE) during a transition period of MYs 2008-2010. In MY 2011, all manufacturers will be required to comply with a Reformed CAFE standard. Under Reformed CAFE, fuel economy standards are restructured so that they are based on a measure of vehicle size called "footprint," the product of multiplying a vehicle's wheelbase by its track width. A target level of fuel economy is established for each increment in footprint. Smaller footprint light trucks have higher targets and larger ones, lower targets. (Final CAFE Rule on Light Trucks Model years 2008-2010)
 

Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007

On December 19, 2007, the President signed the Energy Independence and Security Act. The Act seeks to improve fuel economy and help reduce U.S. dependence on oil. The Act sets mandatory Renewable Fuel Standards and sets a national fuel standard of 35 miles per gallon by 2020.

EMISSIONS

Clean Air Act Emissions Standards

December 2005, the California Air Resources Board requested a waiver under the Clean Air Act of pre-emption for its greenhouse-gas regulations for certain new motor vehicles beginning with Model Year 2009. This waiver would impact not only California vehicles, as other states would have had the ability to adopt the standards if California was granted the waiver. At least 16 other states, with nearly half the nation's population, have adopted or were considering adopting California's emission limits. (CA Air Board Waiver Request)

December 19, 2007, the EPA denied the waiver request  citing the national solution for vehicle greenhouse-gas emissions outlined in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. (Letter to Schwarzenegger from US EPA  PDF)

January 3, 2008,  the State of California appealed the waiver to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. (Ninth Circuit Court Appeal PDF)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is coming under increasing fire for refusing to grant the State of California a waiver for regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from new passenger cars and light trucks. In addition to a lawsuit pending in a federal court of appeals, on January 24, 2008, Senator Barbara Boxer and others introduced Senate Bill S2555.  to permit the State of California and other States to immediately proceed under the regulation of the State of California to control greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles

Carbon Emissions

Carbon emissions from vehicles will continue to be a growing topic of interest for the climate change debate during the presidential election campaign and especially after we have a new President.  There are 106 climate change bills pending in Congress right now. Interested companies should especially track the Lieberman-Warner bill as that bill is getting more attention than most bills introduced.

Vehicle carbon emissions are a significant factor in the climate change debate.  The US Supreme Court's May 2007 decision in Massachusetts vs. EPA , indicating that carbon emissions could be considered a pollutant under the Clean Air Act, was decided in the context of vehicle emissions.  According to the US Department of Energy's Fuel Economy website, each gallon of gasoline consumed in vehicles emits 20 pounds of carbon dioxide, translating to an average annual emissions per vehicle of 6.7 tons per year.  Vehicle emissions also account for 51% of carbon dioxide emissions for the average US household.

Information on this web page has been provided by McMahon DeGulis LLP for The Lubrizol Corporation and other interested parties.  The information on this site is not intended as legal advice and use of this site does not establish an attorney-client relationship.  You should not act or rely on any information contained in this site without first seeking the advice of an attorney.