Today President Obama will announce that U.S. emissions and mileage standards will match California standards by 2016.  American automakers are supporting the new National Program that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an additional 200 million tons by 2016.

Amazingly enough, after years of litigation against stricter mileage and emissions standards, American car manufacturers are dropping their lawsuits.  Apparently, the new National Program that appears to unite a variety of factions, was the deciding factor.

According to The New York Times, car manufacturers will have to produce truck and car fleets with an average 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016.  Surprisingly, the Auto Alliance announced its support for the President’s National Program.  Dave McCurdy, president and CEO of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, put it this way, ”What’s significant about the announcement is it launches a new beginning, an era of cooperation. The President has succeeded in bringing three regulatory bodies, 15 states, a dozen automakers and many environmental groups to the table.”

One of the provisions that auto makers are especially pleased with, is that the new standards will be based on a car or trucks attributes or “footprint”.  According to the Alliance this means that car makers can continue to provide a wide variety of cars.  How can they do this and still meet the new standards?  Because of some rather novel provisions in the Program.

Under the new National Program,  auto manufacturers can meet the required reduction in CO2 through a wide variety of measures that don’t include modified cars.  These measures include earned credits, credit trading, air conditioning credits, and credits for using additional technologies that reduce carbon dioxide (CO2).  Of course, the automakers want to be in on the rule making as the EPA and NHTSA implement the new program.

The fact that American automakers are looking at bankruptcy could also be a factor in the auto makers change of position and abandonment of costly litigation.  Whatever the real reason, at least car makers are going to be producing cleaner cars.

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Entry was posted on Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 at 3:21 pm under Auto, Green Technology.

Read more entries by Susan Wilson.
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