Stricter Fuel Standards To Be Unveiled by President Obama

With the support of the beleaguered auto industry and Congress, President Obama will unveil tougher vehicle fuel standards that require average fuel efficiency of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016, a 40 percent increase over today’s federal requirements. The new standards, which are to be phased in from 2012 to 2016, will cut carbon emissions from vehicles by more than a third and save 1.8 billion barrels of oil by 2016, Obama administration officials said. The new regulations would match the higher level of fuel efficiency that California had been seeking to establish, and California officials said they would drop their effort to set their own target and embrace the one proposed by Obama. The heads of General Motors, Toyota USA, and the Alliance of Auto Manufacturers announced their support for Obama’s proposal, saying it would create a single national standard that would simplify their manufacturing process. Detroit had long resisted tougher federal mileage standards, but with Chrysler in bankruptcy, General Motors facing the same prospect, and both companies taking billions in federal bailout money, the industry had no choice but to accede to the Obama’s new standard.