This is great news, all around. It should have been done YEARS ago with these automobiles. This is too long overdue.
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, sources said Monday.
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 mark 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, according to the New York Times, 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.
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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."
Obama's plan also would effectively end litigation between states and automakers. The latter had opposed state-specific rules, arguing that having to meet several state standards would be much more expensive for them than just one federal rule.
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