Regulations and Standards
This Web page provides links to standards and regulations for controlling greenhouse gas emissions from mobile sources.
Vehicles/Engines
Proposed Rulemaking: Light-Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards and Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards
On September 15, 2009, EPA and the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA) proposed an historic National Program that would dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve fuel economy for new cars and trucks sold in the United States.
The combined EPA and NHTSA standards that make up this proposed National Program would apply to passenger cars, light-duty trucks, and medium-duty passenger vehicles, covering model years 2012 through 2016. They require these vehicles to meet an estimated combined average emissions level of 250 grams of carbon dioxide per mile, equivalent to 35.5 miles per gallon (MPG) if the automobile industry were to meet this carbon dioxide level solely through fuel economy improvements. Together, these proposed standards would cut carbon dioxide emissions by an estimated 950 million metric tons and 1.8 billion barrels of oil over the lifetime of the vehicles sold under the program (model years 2012-2016).
Under this proposed National Program, automobile manufacturers would be able to build a single light-duty national fleet that satisfies all requirements under both the National Program and the standards of California and other states, while ensuring that consumers still have a full range of vehicle choices.
This proposal is the result of the President’s May 2009 announcement of a national program to reduce greenhouse gases and improve fuel economy.
- Fact Sheet: EPA and NHTSA Propose First-Ever National Program to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Improve Fuel Economy For Cars and Trucks | PDF Version (9 pp, 188K)
- Proposed Rule (PDF, the entire document) (337 pp, 4.16MB, published September 28, 2009)
- Page 49453-49502 | PDF Version (50 pp, 999K)
- Page 49503-49552 | PDF Version (50 pp, 1.0MB)
- Page 49553-49602 | PDF Version (50 pp, 1.1MB)
- Page 49603-49652 | PDF Version (50 pp, 1.2MB)
- Page 49653-49702 | PDF Version (50 pp, 1.7MB)
- Page 49703-49752 | PDF Version (50 pp, 1.4MB)
- Page 49753-49789 | PDF Version (37 pp, 946K)
- Draft Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) (PDF) (337 pp, 2.1M, EPA-420-D-09-003, September 2009)
- Draft Joint Technical Support Document (TSD) (PDF) (203 pp, 1.8M, EPA-420-D-09-001, September 2009)
- Detroit Michigan, October 21, 2009: Transcript of hearing (PDF) (145 pp, 228K)
- New York, New York, October 23, 2009: Transcript of hearing (PDF) (178 pp, 362K)
- Los Angeles, California, October 27, 2009: Transcript to be posted
Information on Public Hearings: Federal Register Notice of Public Hearings Page 51252 | PDF Version (1 page, 60K)
Public Hearing transcripts are being prepared for each hearing and will be posted below when ready.
- NHTSA information on Joint Rulemaking to Establish Vehicle GHG Emissions and CAFE Standards
In May 2009, EPA and the Department of Transportation issued a Notice of Intent stating that the two agencies would work together to establish national vehicle greenhouse gas and fuel economy standards for new cars and trucks sold in the United States.
- Fact Sheet: EPA Will Propose Historic Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for Light-Duty Vehicles | PDF Version (4 pp, 531K, EPA-420-F-09-028, May 2009)
- Notice | PDF Version (6 pp, 112K, published May 22, 2009)
- White House announcement
This effort is supported by a broad range of stakeholders, including the State of California, and major automobile companies.
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In June 2009, the Administrator granted a Clean Air Act waiver of preemption to California. This waiver will allow California to implement its own greenhouse gas emission standards for motor vehicles beginning with model year 2009.
In April 2009, the Administrator proposed that the current and projected concentrations of six key greenhouse gases in the atmosphere threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations. This is referred to as the endangerment finding.
The Administrator also proposed to find that the greenhouse gas emissions from new motor vehicles and motor vehicle engines contribute to the atmospheric concentrations of these key greenhouse gases and hence to the threat of climate change. This is referred to as the cause or contribute finding.
EPA must finalize both the endangerment finding and the cause or contribute finding before the proposed national light-duty vehicle greenhouse gas emissions standards can be finalized.
Fuels
- EPA is responsible for revising and implementing regulations to ensure that gasoline sold in the United States contains a minimum volume of renewable fuel. The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program will increase the volume of renewable fuel required to be blended into gasoline from 9 billion gallons in 2008 to 36 billion gallons by 2022. New RFS program regulations were proposed in May 2009.
![[logo] US EPA](http://www.epa.gov/epafiles/images/logo_epaseal.gif)