Larisa Manescu, larisa.manescu@sierraclub.org
WASHINGTON, DC – The National Highway and Safety Administration (NHTSA) just signed a final rule to reverse an illegal Trump-era loophole that allowed automakers to avoid penalty payments for new cars and trucks that violate minimum fuel-economy standards.
NHTSA imposes fines for each one-tenth of a mile by which automakers’ vehicle fleets fall below fuel economy standards. Those fines had not been adjusted for inflation for nearly two decades, making it cheaper for automakers to pay penalties rather than to install readily available technology to protect the public from the deadly pollution of gas-powered vehicles.
In 2015, Congress directed NHTSA to adjust those fines for inflation–from $5.50 to $14.00—for the first time in nearly two decades, and Obama’s NHTSA made the increase applicable to model year 2019 vehicles. This rule reinstates the Obama-era penalties for those years.
“We are delighted to see that the new rule finally puts a stop to several attempts by the Trump administration to flout the directive of Congress and the courts to protect communities and our climate by making automakers pay for their excess pollution,” said Katherine García, director of Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All campaign. “Cheap fines are among the many loopholes automakers exploit to keep producing gas guzzlers that fuel climate change and foul our air, harming communities across the nation. We must eliminate any incentives automakers have to evade fuel-efficiency standards, exacerbate the climate crisis, and harm the people most vulnerable to toxic tailpipe emissions, including children and the elderly.”
“Automakers have already gone to court twice to avoid paying inflation-adjusted fines, and they have lost twice,” said Joanne Spalding, chief climate counsel for the Sierra Club. “Any challenge to this rule is destined for the same fate, and the Sierra Club and its allies will be there to enforce fundamental protections against dirty and dangerous pollution from fossil fuel vehicles.”
Background:
Two decisions from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 2018 and 2020 held that the Trump Administration’s 2017 rollback to a rate of $5.50 was unlawful. The proper inflation adjustment to $14.00 will now again apply to all model year 2019 vehicles, and has again been adjusted for inflation to $15.00 for all model year 2022 vehicles.
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.