Letter to the Hon. Elaine Chao, Secretary of Transportation, and the Hon. Andrew Wheeler, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency - Rep. Sherrill and Rep. Foster Lead Call to Department of Transportation, Environmental Protection Agency Urging Reconsideration of Fuel Efficiency Standards Rollback

Letter

Dear Secretary Chao and Administrator Wheeler,

We are writing to object to the rollback of the existing car and light truck fuel economy and
greenhouse gas emissions standards that was finalized on Tuesday March 31, 2020. This would
undermine efforts to limit tailpipe emissions and increase fuel economy, thus hampering one of
the government's best methods of combating climate change. Not only is this woefully
inappropriate as the world is consumed by responding to the COVID-19 global pandemic, but
this consequential regulatory decision would allow cars on American roads to emit nearly a
billion tons more carbon dioxide in comparison to the 2012 regulations.

We believe that this rollback reflects a complete disregard for science and could harm the
economy over time. The administration's own draft economic analysis of the rule showed that it
would hurt consumers by forcing them to buy more gasoline to fuel their less efficient cars. A
recent analysis of the final rule concluded that even with this administration's efforts to correct
what a panel of government- appointed scientists, many of them selected by the current
administration, found to be "significant weaknesses in the scientific analysis" of the rule, deep
flaws still remain. This new standard would lead to nearly a billion more tons of carbon dioxide
released and the consumption of about 80 billion more gallons of gasoline over the lifetime of
the vehicles built during the terms of the rule.

This is yet another effort to undermine the United States' efforts to fight climate change, which
has so far included pulling out of the global Paris climate change accord, weakening the rules to
curb greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired electric plants, and undermining the basic science that underpins environmental regulations. The 2012 policy was the first climate policy that
targeted what is now the nation's largest source of climate-warming emissions: transportation.

The rollback also puts the United States out of step with the rest of the global auto market,
moving it from one of the strongest fuel economy standards in the world to the weakest. This
new "American Standard" would be lower than those of the European Union, China, India, Japan
and South Korea. That could present long-term challenges to the United States' auto industry, as
other automakers develop more sophisticated, high-efficiency, low-pollution vehicles while
American ones focus on gas guzzlers.

During this difficult time in responding to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the United States
should focus its efforts in helping Americans get the medical supplies, funding, and assistance
necessary, not rolling back emissions standards that help to fight climate change and keep our air
clean.

We strongly urge the administration to reconsider rolling back the 2012 emissions and withdraw
it from publication in the federal register. Instead, we urge the administration to take all
necessary steps to ensure public health protections are strengthened as we fight the COVID-19
pandemic.