Snap Fact #296 - The Obama Administration Has Finalized Historic Clean Car Standards!

 It's never been clearer that our nation needs to move beyond oil. That's why the president's announcement on cleaner cars that rely on much less or even no oil is so important.

Combined with previously announced standards, these new rules will reduce U.S. oil use by 3 million barrels a day. More efficient vehicles will also save the average new-car buyer $8,000 at the pump, even after paying for fuel saving technology -- keeping trillions out of Big Oil's pockets. These standards will reduce U.S. climate pollution by 570 million metric tons in 2030 alone. That's nearly 10% of our current annual carbon output -- the equivalent of shutting down 140 coal plants!

“We’re replacing dependence on oil with high-tech engineering and manufacturing of more fuel efficient vehicles, which means cleaner air and more good jobs in America and more money to spend at home,” said Adam Lee, President of Lee Auto Malls. The new fuel efficiency standards give automakers their own road map for the future – providing certainty in the market, spurring innovation, and putting people to work. “A recent independent study released by the Blue Green Alliance estimates the proposed fuel efficiency standard will spark auto industry investments and consumer savings that could generate 570,000 jobs nationwide.

The week of August 28, 2012 has been an historic week for U.S. consumers and for the future of our nation's costly oil use. That was the week that the Obama administration finalized fuel economy and global warming emissions standards for cars and light trucks sold in model years 2017-2025. After working with automakers, autoworkers, and environmental advocates, the White House has announced final rules for cleaner cars. Together with earlier standards, these rules will double average fuel efficiency for new cars to 54.5 mpg by 2025, and cut their carbon pollution in half. This is huge! Cleaner, more fuel-efficient cars means that the President has taken another significant step to break our reliance on foreign oil, save money at the pump, and drastically cut climate pollution.

June and July of 2012 were the hottest months ever recorded. As if that wasn't enough, this summer has also seen an oil pipeline spill in Wisconsin, a refinery fire in California, and disturbing new tar sands pipeline plans in New England.