The Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA) this week responded to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Final Determination on the Appropriateness of the Model Years 2022-2025 Light-Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards (GHG).
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced Monday the agency would revoke standards requiring cars and light trucks to average more than 50 miles per gallon by 2025. The standards were too high and unrealistic, Pruitt said.
Under the Clean Air Act, California has the power to establish its own emissions standards. A dozen other states follow California’s standards.
MEMA supports adjustments to emission standards but does not support significant changes. The association said it pledges to work with the EPA, California and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to set standards that balance technology, manufacturing, and customers.
“Motor vehicle suppliers, the largest sector of manufacturing jobs in the U.S., drive the technology advancements that allow automakers to meet fuel efficiency and emissions standards,” MEMA President and CEO Steve Handschuh said. “Suppliers stand ready to fully participate in helping automakers meet the targets of EPA’s GHG emissions program wherever the new standards are set. The GHG standards have driven long-term supplier investments in emissions reducing technologies, spurred U.S. global leadership in innovation and have resulted in an overall 19 percent increase in supplier manufacturing jobs since 2012.”