New USA Government Interagency Program to Address Climate Change and Energy Security.

In a press conference on September 15, 2009, U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Ray LaHood and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, jointly announced upcoming proposed rulemaking establishing an historic national program that would improve vehicle fuel economy and reduce greenhouse gases. They said that their proposal builds upon core principles President Obama announced with stakeholders earlier in May, and that this provides coordinated national vehicle fuel efficiency and emissions standards. They said that this NPRM would be published in the Federal Register soon.

Then on September 28, the EPA and NHTSA published in the Federal Register a joint Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to establish a National Program consisting of new standards for light-duty vehicles. EPA and NHTSA claim that this proposal will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve fuel economy. They also stated that this joint proposed rulemaking is consistent with the National Fuel Efficiency Policy announced by President Obama on May 19, 2009.

These proposed regulations apply to passenger cars, light-duty trucks, and medium-duty passenger vehicles, covering model years 2012 through 2016. This NPRM said that this represents a harmonized and consistent National Program. The NPRM also said that automobile manufacturers would be able to build a single light-duty national fleet that satisfies all requirements under both NHTSA and EPA programs while ensuring that consumers still have a full range of vehicle choices. Also, it was stated under this proposed program that automobile manufacturers would be able to build a single, light-duty national fleet that satisfies all federal requirements as well as the standards of California and other states.

These proposed regulations include miles per gallon requirements under NHTSA's Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards (CAFE) program and the first-ever national emissions regulation under EPA's greenhouse gas (GHG) program. The NPRM stated that the collaboration of federal agencies for this proposal also allows for one set of clearer rules for all automakers, instead of three unconnected standards (DOT, EPA, and a state standard). It was stated that this program would:

• Increase fuel economy by approximately five percent every year
• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 950 million metric tons
• Save the average car buyer more than $3000 in fuel costs
• Conserve 1.8 billion barrels of oil.

It was also announced in a separate Federal Register that the EPA and NHTSA would hold public meeting to discuss these proposals to current rulemaking. They have since jointly held three public meetings to gather comments from stakeholders in the following locations:

• Detroit on Wednesday, October 21,
• New York City on Friday, October 23rd, and
• Los Angeles on Tuesday, October 27th.

The NHTSA proposed CAFE regulations are like the regulations NHTSA promulgated in March 2009 for MY 2011, which were expressed as mathematical functions depending on vehicle footprint (Wheelbase x Track Width). Under this new proposed CAFE regulation, each light vehicle model produced for sale in the United States would have a fuel economy target. The CAFE levels that must be met by the fleet of each manufacturer would be determined by computing the sales-weighted harmonic average of the targets applicable to each of the manufacturer's passenger cars and light trucks. These targets appear as follows for each model year (MY)from 2012 through 2016:

Average Required Fuel Economy (MPG) under Proposed CAFE Regulation

Likewise, EPA is proposing GHG emissions regulations from for model years (MY) 2012 through 2016 as follows:

Fleet-Wide Emissions Compliance Levels under the New Proposed Footprint-Based GHG CO2 Regulations (Grams/Mile)

Written comments on these proposed new regulations must be received no later than 60 days after the September 28th publication of this NPRM in the Federal Register.