The Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are hosting the first in a series of national public hearings in Detroit today regarding proposed standards for model-year 2017-25 vehicles that would require automakers to work toward producing a fleet that averages 54.5 miles per gallon of gasoline. Over 100 people are speaking in the marathon hearing. United Auto Workers President Bob King stood united with National Wildlife Federation president Larry Schweiger and Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) in support of the “sensible, achievable and needed” standards.

At the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, which opens to the public this weekend, advances in fuel economy are taking center stage. Thanks to aggressive leadership by the Obama administration, working in concert with the state of California and the unions and carmakers of the American auto industry, fuel economy standards are zooming toward an average of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. A Detroit Free Press editorial reports that the new fuel economy standards have breathed new life into American automobile manufacturers, spurring them to innovate new technologies and new styles. Their new cars — which reduce our vulnerability to the whims of Big Oil and lessen dangerous pollution — will be able to compete on the international stage, which has much higher standards for fuel efficiency:

Against the backdrop of the North American International Auto Show, which opens to the public Saturday, anything seems possible, including fuel efficiencies that seemed out of reach just a few years ago. The stylish introductions focused as much on engine and power configurations (hybrid, plug-in, turbocharged, direct injection, etc.) and weight-savings as they did on appearance.

“This year’s auto show proves beyond all doubt that fuel efficiency is no longer just a euphemism for ‘econobox,’” writes the Detroit Free Press. “With the long-term planning horizon offered by the new fuel efficiency rules, automakers can do far more than survive. They can thrive, they can do it with style and — most important to everyone around here — build the cars that people want to buy.”

In a Fox News interview hosted by Mike Huckabee, Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney pledged to overturn existing fuel economy standards that reduce global warming pollution. Responding to a question about the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, Romney said he disagreed with the U.S. Supreme Court decision that carbon dioxide is a pollutant under the Clean Air Act. Romney also said he wants to kill EPA greenhouse standards for cars and trucks, saying the EPA is used by President Obama to “hold down and crush” private enterprise:

The EPA wants to be able to get in and grab more power and basically try and move the whole economy away from oil, gas, coal, nuclear and push it into the renewables. Look, we all like the renewables. But renewables alone are not going to power this economy. And yeah, I would, among other things, I would get the EPA out of its effort to manage carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles and trucks. Look, that was not a pollutant within the meaning of the legislation that authorized the EPA. It is of all the agencies in Washington, it is the one most being used by this President to try and hold down, crush and insert the federal government into the life of the private sector.

Watch it:

The Massachusetts v. EPA decision, made in 2007, compelled the EPA to set tailpipe emissions standards for motor vehicles. The fuel economy standards were issued in 2010, and are in force for cars being sold now. Prodded by higher standards to make more competitive cars, America’s automobile industry is on the road to recovery after years of deregulatory decline.

(HT: Crooks and Liars)

New fuel efficiency standards set by the EPA to cut greenhouse gas pollution deliver stronger, cleaner technology for owners of pickup trucks used in outdoor and natural resource businesses and recreation, according to Trucks That Work, a new report released today by the National Wildlife Federation. Under the final standard, heavy duty pickup and van owners save over $6,000 over the life of the vehicle – even after accounting for the cost of new technology. “A driver who trades in an ’05 Ford F150 for an ’11 is effectively cutting 75 cents off the cost of every gallon at today’s prices and saving hundreds of dollars a year on gas, that now can be spent at home or in their business.”

Only by considering the fatality risk to all drivers in an accident can an analysis determine the overall impact on safety of efficiency standards, as this Lawrence Berkeley National Lab analysis showed.

If falsely labeling fuel standards as job killers doesn’t work, why not call them people killers? That’s exactly what opponents of new fuel-efficiency targets are doing.  As we’ll see, the transportation community has moved beyond that tired myth with new analysis showing the overall benefit of well-designed standards to drivers, which in turn lead to well-designed cars.

On Fox Business last week, Sam Kazman of the Competitive Enterprise Institute and show host John Stossel used outdated figures to claim new fuel standards will kill 2,000 people a year. Kazman — whose organization has received considerable funding from oil companies over the years — compared fuel efficiency targets to killing soldiers in war, saying that “at least we admit we’re putting lives at risk” for access to oil in the Middle East.

Watch it:

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Last Friday, California Republican Darrell Issa called for an investigation into the negotiations between the Obama Administration and auto companies in the lead-up to an historic increase in fuel efficiency for America’s fleet of trucks and cars.

Rather than back an industry-supported agreement that would reduce consumption of oil and create American jobs, Issa used the moment to attack the Administration with a politically-motivated inquiry into the deal through the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

But Issa is not only out of step with public sentiment, he appears to be out of step with his own party.

Other Republican leaders in the House aren’t going along with this “green scare” tactic. Congressman Fred Upton, Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, is featured in Politico’s Morning Energy with this snarky headline:

ISSA’S BELUSHI MOMENT? Darrell Issa is launching an investigation into Obama’s CAFE deal with the auto industry, but Fred Upton says it’s time to let the deal work its way through the regulatory process, he tells POLITICO.

“We’ve not decided to take that [Issa investigation] course,” Upton said. “We’ve had some discussions with the auto companies. They believe. They signed the letters of intent. And we’ll see how it plays out.”

This latest deal will raise fuel efficiency of automobiles to 54.5 mpg by 2025, up from 27.3 mpg today. The standards could create tens of thousands of jobs due to new manufacturing activity, while also potentially saving consumers more than a trillion dollars.

“Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?”

– Stephen Lacey and Joe Romm

That’s the title of Environment America’s press release today.  The group lays out some strategic steps to reduce oil consumption in their new report, Getting Off Oil: A 50 State Roadmap to Curbing Our Dependence on Petroleum.

Daniel Gatti, Staff Attorney at Environment America stated,

“The cost of our oil dependence has grown out of control, from the outrageous price we pay at the pump, to the pollution of the air that we breathe, to our contribution to global warming, to disasters like the Gulf spill last year and the ongoing spill in the Yellowstone River. Today’s report shows how we can bring the United States closer to the day when we will no longer fear the impact of Big Oil on our paychecks, our environment and our public health.”

Some of the policies recommended in the report include:

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