Using common sense with U.S. fuel standards

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, a favorite target of those on the left, continues to advance policies most citizens should welcome. The latest is his decision that light-vehicle fuel efficiency and emissions limits set under the Obama administration for model years 2022-25 are “not appropriate.”

The Obama administration wanted vehicles to average 51.4 miles per gallon. That figure was touted mostly to get headlines, and experts said it translated into about 36 mpg under real-world conditions. But that goal has moved beyond reach because of changes in consumer behavior.

Mitch Bainwol, president and CEO of the Auto Alliance, noted in a recent column, “The market reality is clear. No factor is more relevant than gas prices, which remain significantly lower than projected. In reaction, consumers are buying more SUVs and trucks, bigger engines and fewer alternative powertrains than regulators expected.”

When measuring compliance with fuel mileage edicts, Bainwol points out the government bases its evaluation on “what consumers buy — not what automakers put in dealer showrooms.” Thus, he says, “the buying pattern of the American public has demonstrated that a rigid adherence to the standards — as originally contemplated nearly a decade ago — is inconsistent with market realities.”

The impact of consumer behavior has been significant and rapid. Early last year, Bainwol notes, the Environmental Protection Agency reported automakers were “over-complying” with fuel-efficiency standards. Within weeks, “government reports indicated that statistic was no longer operative, and, for the first time, automakers missed the emissions targets despite achieving record fuel economy. Since then, compliance has slipped even further.”

To achieve the Obama fuel-efficiency standard requires the government, in some fashion, to force Americans to buy higher-mileage vehicles they don’t want, or hope that gasoline prices surge back to record highs. Either way, consumers would have to pay more and often sacrifice quality. In general, the more fuelefficient a vehicle, the smaller its size. A single man with an office job may be fine in a small vehicle, but a family with three children may not.

It shouldn’t go unnoticed that automakers have achieved record fuel efficiency, and even under any likely revision, fuel efficiency is expected to increase even more, just at a slower rate. Bainwol notes that regardless of adjustments, the nation’s vehicle fleet will probably still achieve 97 percent of fuel savings projected when the Obama-era higher fuel standards were first advanced.

In short, to the degree the fuel standards generate environmental benefit, they’ll still generate that benefit, and it will continue to increase over time. Of course, this hasn’t stopped environmental groups from reacting with hysterics. Greenpeace USA even released a video in which children must put on gas masks as they disembark from an SUV because the air is now so polluted.

The reality is the nation’s air will be fine even if fuel-efficiency standards are modified slightly. To base regulation on reality, not assumptions that have proven false, is a sign of common sense in government that consumers should welcome.