Today, the EPA and DOT (Dept of Transportation) passed the first federal greenhouse gas regulations. You may ask, why is this significant. Ray Lahood, head of the DOT, and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson set up standards for motor vehicles, including an average fuel economy of 35mpg by 2016. My 2010 Carolla LE averages 34. Will it still last by 2016?
The layperson may think, oh, it's only cars that are impacted, but this is not true. Greenwire explained this well: "When vehicle standards take effect, greenhouse gases will officially become 'subject to regulation' under the Clean Air Act, which will trigger Clean Air Act permitting requirements for industrial sources like power plants, refineries and other large facilities." The standards fall under Title II of the CAA regulating tailpipe emissions. The new vehicle standards should save 1.8B, not million, but billion barrels of oil (equivalent to 50M cars off the road) and reduce 1B GHGs.
So what do these rule entail?
- Vehicles (both cars and trucks) must meet a 250gram CO2/mile in 2016 models- manufacturers will have to meet these limits. Will the costs of cars be any different from today as a result of having to meet these standards? EPA says the average cost will increase by less than $1000
- EPA will try to have a credit trading program for fleet averaging.
- Advanced Technology credits- incentivizes commercialization of advanced GHG/fuel economy technologies such as EVs, hybrids, etc.
THe Rule is in effect 60 days after publishing. The emission control requirements take effect Jan 2, 2011 and do not immediately trigger PSD program requirements for stationary sources.
