WASHINGTON - A
trade association representing General Motors Co , Toyota Motor Corp ,
Volkswagen AG and nine other automakers on Tuesday asked new
Environmental
Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt to withdraw an Obama administration
decision to lock in vehicle emission rules through 2025.
On Jan. 13,
then-EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy finalized a determination that landmark
fuel efficiency rules instituted by President Barack Obama should be finalized
through 2025, a bid to maintain a key part of his administration's climate
legacy.
Mitch Bainwol,
president and chief executive of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said
in a letter to Pruitt the decision was "the product of egregious
procedural and substantive defects" and is "riddled with indefensible
assumptions, inadequate analysis and a failure to engage with contrary
evidence."
Automakers
have argued that the rules could result in the loss of up to 1 million jobs
because consumers could be less willing to buy the more fuel efficient vehicles
since their engineering will result in higher price tags.
The EPA had
until April 2018 to decide whether the 2025 standards were feasible but in
November moved up its decision to Jan. 13, just before Obama left office.
Separately,
the Association of Global Automakers, a trade group representing Honda Motor Co
, Nissan Motor Co Ltd , Hyundai Motor Co and others, said late Tuesday it had
formally petitioned the EPA to withdraw the determination. The group argued in
a separate letter to Pruitt Tuesday reviewed by Reuters that "EPA opted
for political expediency" and "jammed through a final determination
in the waning days of the lame-duck administration."
EPA
spokeswoman Julia Valentine said the agency is reviewing the letter and
declined to comment further. Pruitt told a Senate panel earlier he will review
the Obama administration's decision.
The auto group
requests follow a separate letter to President Donald Trump earlier this month
from the chief executives of GM, Ford Motor Co and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles
NV, along with the top North American executives at Toyota, VW, Honda, Hyundai,
Nissan and others urging Trump to revisit the decision.
Automakers say
the rules impose significant costs and are out of step with consumer
preferences. Environmentalists say the rules are working, saving drivers
thousands in fuel costs and should not be changed.
In 2011, Obama
announced an agreement with automakers to raise fuel efficiency standards to
54.5 miles per gallon. This, the administration said, would save motorists $1.7
trillion in fuel costs over the life of the vehicles but cost the auto industry
about $200 billion over 13 years.
The EPA said
in July that because Americans were buying fewer cars and more SUVs and trucks,
it estimated the fleet will average 50.8 mpg to 52.6 mpg in 2025.
McCarthy could
not be reached Tuesday but said in her determination in January the rules are
"feasible, practical and appropriate" and in "the best interests
of the auto industry."
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