Obama to unveil big increase in required mpg

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Smog regularly hovers over Los Angeles and other California cities. That, along with emissions tied to global warming, explains the state's push to get cleaner, higher mileage cars on its roads. That push was also the driving force behind a new federal standard worked up by the Obama administration.



WASHINGTON - New cars and trucks will have to get 30 percent better mileage starting in 2016 under an Obama administration move to curb emissions tied to smog and global warming.

President Barack Obama was expected to adopt the higher mileage standards on Tuesday, administration sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of the official announcement.

The new requirement will cost consumers an extra $1,30 per vehicle and marks the first time that limits on greenhouse gases will be linked to federal standards for cars and light trucks.

While the 30 percent increase would be an average for both cars and light trucks, the percentage increase in cars would be much greater, rising from the current 27.5 mpg standard to 42 mpg starting in 2016. The average for light trucks would rise from 24 mpg to 26.2 mpg.

California, 13 other states and the District of Columbia had earlier urged the federal government to let them enact more stringent standards than the federal government's requirements. The states' regulations would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent in new cars and trucks by 2016.

Will phase in new standards
The sources said the Obama administration will adopt the 30 percent goal with the 2016 deadline, four years sooner than under an earlier federal law. The requirement will gradually phase in, starting with 2011 vehicle models.

Obama's plan couples for the first time pollution reduction from vehicle tailpipes with increased efficiency on the road. It would save 1.8 billion barrels of oil through 2016 and would be the environmental equivalent to taking 177 million cars off the road, senior administration officials said Monday night.

The plan also would effectively end a feud between automakers and statehouses over emission standards — with the states coming out on top but the automakers getting a single national standard and more time to make the changes.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat and chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, thanked the Obama administration for bringing together "the federal government, the State of California, and the auto industry behind new national automobile emissions standards that follow California’s lead.

"This is good news for all of us who have fought long and hard to reduce global warming pollution, create clean energy jobs, and reduce our dangerous dependence on foreign oil," she added.

Environmentalists also praised the move. Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, called it "one of the most significant efforts undertaken by any president, ever, to end our addiction to oil and seriously slash our global warming emissions."

Daniel Weiss, director of climate strategy at the Center for American Progress, described it as  "a triple play: It will help move America off foreign oil, save families money and spur American businesses to take the lead in developing the job-creating, clean-energy technologies of the future."

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