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The White House has begun its final review of new auto standards that would increase the nation's fleetwide fuel economy and create the first-ever greenhouse-gas standard for cars and trucks.


The Office of Management and Budget received the final joint rulemaking from U.S. EPA and the Transportation Department on Monday, according to OMB's Web site. By law, the administration has until April 1 to set the standards that will govern model year 2012 cars and trucks, which are slated to arrive in dealer showrooms at the start of October 2011.


The proposed auto standards represent a White House-brokered compromise between carmakers and more than a dozen states that had pushed to create their own emission standards for cars and trucks.


The auto industry had long challenged such state efforts in federal court, arguing they would create a "regulatory patchwork" that would depress overall sales and put some dealers at a competitive disadvantage. But the litigation was unsuccessful and the automakers ultimately agreed to drop their legal challenges in exchange for a single set of federal emissions standards for cars and trucks.


The rules would kick in for model year 2012 and push the nation's fleetwide fuel economy average to 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016, four years ahead of the schedule Congress laid out in a 2007 energy law.
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Tags: Courts, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Legislation, CAFE Standard, Fuel Economy, Greenhouse Gases, Greenhouse-Gas Emissions, White House

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White House Begins Final Review of Nation's Fleetwide Fuel Economy Rules was originally published by Green Car Advisor. Read the full story by clicking here.