{"id":17851,"date":"2017-09-06T16:45:02","date_gmt":"2017-09-06T21:45:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/?p=17851"},"modified":"2017-09-06T16:45:02","modified_gmt":"2017-09-06T21:45:02","slug":"americans-speak-up-for-clean-cars-at-epa-public-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2017\/09\/06\/americans-speak-up-for-clean-cars-at-epa-public-hearing\/","title":{"rendered":"Americans speak up for clean cars at EPA public hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A public hearing today on EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt\u2019s effort to reverse America\u2019s Clean Car Standards<\/a> drew widespread support for keeping the protections in place.<\/p>\n

I got the chance to join more than a hundred people who signed up to testify at the Washington, D.C. hearing \u2013 and they overwhelmingly spoke in favor of the Clean Car Standards and praised the benefits they provide for climate security and economic prosperity for our communities and families. (You can read my full testimony here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

The American public stands to lose vital benefits if the Clean Cars Standards are reversed<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Clean Car Standards are already at work reducing climate pollution, driving innovative new technologies, improving our energy security, and saving American families money at the gas pump. But last month, the Trump Administration announced formal steps to begin reconsidering the existing standards for cars and passenger trucks for model years 2022 to 2025 \u2013 which could stop that progress.<\/p>\n

Under the standards already in place, people who buy a new car or truck in 2025 would save thousands of dollars on fuel\u00a0over the lifetime of those vehicles. In total, EPA projects that consumers would save more than $1 trillion<\/a>\u00a0because of the standards.<\/p>\n

The 86 percent of Americans who finance their vehicle with a five-year loan are expected to\u00a0immediately realize the cost savings<\/a>\u00a0from cleaner, more efficient vehicles. This is true even with recent\u00a0lower gas prices<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Clean Car standards would reduce America\u2019s oil consumption by\u00a0two million barrels\u00a0per day<\/a> by 2025 \u2013 more than we import from any single country other than Canada. According to Ret.\u00a0Lt. General Richard Zilmer<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Over-reliance on oil ties our nation to far-flung conflicts, sends our troops into harm\u2019s way, and endangers them once they\u2019re in conflict zones. Ensuring that the cars and trucks we drive every day go farther on every gallon of gas makes our nation stronger.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Clean Car program would also\u00a0eliminate an estimated\u00a0six billion metric tons of carbon pollution<\/a> over the life of the vehicles subject to the standards, which is more than a\u00a0year\u2019s worth<\/a>\u00a0of U.S. carbon emissions.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re making progress faster and cheaper than expected<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>EPA\u2019s recent rigorous evaluation of the existing standards found that technologies<\/a> are developing more quickly and at even lower costs than EPA originally projected \u2013 making the standards for the later model years appropriate and even more feasible than was first thought.<\/p>\n

Per vehicle compliance costs are significantly lower<\/a> than those projected in 2012 ($252 lower for cars and $197 lower for trucks as compared to 2012 projections).<\/p>\n

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Both the U.S. and world automotive markets are moving forward<\/strong><\/p>\n