Obama Admin. Finalizes Historic Clean Car Standards

Standards Will Slash Pollution and Cut Oil Use in New Mexico

Environment New Mexico

Albuquerque, NM —Today the Obama administration finalized new clean car standards that will double the fuel efficiency of today’s vehicles by 2025, drastically reducing emissions of carbon pollution and cutting oil use in New Mexico and nationwide. The standards will cover new cars and light trucks in model years 2017-2025, and require those vehicles to meet the equivalent of a 54.5 miles-per-gallon standard by 2025. A recent joint analysis by the Natural Resources Defense Council and Union of Concerned Scientists projects that by 2030 in New Mexico alone, the standards will cut carbon pollution from vehicles by 1.5 million metric tons—the equivalent of the annual pollution of 240,000 of today’s vehicles—and save 135 million gallons of fuel.

A recent analysis found that in New Mexico alone the standards will cut as much carbon pollution in 2030 as is emitted by 240,000 of today’s vehicles and save 135 million gallons of fuel annually by 2030.

Together with the Obama administration’s standards covering vehicles in model years 2012-2016, the new standards and their projected cuts in carbon pollution represent the largest single step the U.S. has ever taken to tackle global warming.

“The Obama administration’s new clean car standards are a monumental leap forward in the must-win battle to tackle global warming and get New Mexico off oil,” said Sanders Moore with Environment New Mexico. “Future generations may well look back on today as a decisive step toward breaking our destructive oil addiction.”

The NRDC/UCS analysis also projects that New Mexicans will save $330 million at the gas pump in 2030 because of the fuel efficiency improvements required by the new standards.

More than 282,000 Americans submitted comments in support of the standards as they were being developed, and they enjoy the support of the major automakers, consumer groups and the environmental community. Environment New Mexico was joined by Physicians for Social Responsibility New Mexico Chapter in applauding today’s announcement.

“This historic standard will improve the health of all New Mexicans by taking vital steps to reduce pollution emitted from vehicles. Cleaning up these pervasive sources of carbon pollution will help address climate change thereby reducing incidents of asthma, other respiratory problems, and heart disease,” said Abby Wear, executive director of Physicians for Social Responsibility New Mexico Chapter.

Moore pointed out that just as important as the standards themselves is the story of how they came to be. Long before the Obama administration took office, New Mexico and 13 other states were developing and implementing their own state-level clean car standards. Beyond charting a path for pollution reductions for those states, the standards also pushed automakers to begin developing the cleaner cars that we see on the road today. That paved the way for the Obama administration to first set the first-ever federal carbon pollution standards for vehicles in model years 2012-2016, followed by today’s standards for model years 2017-2025. Environment New Mexico helped ensure that New Mexico adopted its state-level standard in 2008 by collecting petition signatures and working with groups ranging from Physicians for Social Responsibility of New Mexico to the Sierra Club to demonstrate broad support for the standards.

“New Mexicans should take pride in knowing that the Obama administration is following New Mexico’s lead in getting cleaner cars on the road,” said Moore. “Without the leadership of New Mexico and the other states that adopted state-level standards, we likely wouldn’t have any federal standards to celebrate today.”

More than 282,000 Americans submitted comments in support of
the standards as they were being developed, and they enjoy the support of the
major automakers, consumer groups and the environmental community. Environment New Mexico was joined by Physicians
for Social Responsibility New Mexico Chapter in applauding today’s announcement.

“This historic standard will
improve the health of all New Mexicans
by taking vital steps to reduce pollution emitted from
vehicles. Cleaning up these pervasive sources of carbon pollution
will help address climate change thereby reducing incidents of
asthma, other respiratory problems, and heart disease,” said Abby Wear,
executive director of Physicians for Social Responsibility New Mexico Chapter.