California still hopes for fuel economy compromise

Source: By KELSEY TAMBORRINO , Politico • Posted: Tuesday, October 16, 2018

California is still hoping to strike a deal with EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration over mileage standards for 2020-2026. “We do not have a compromise so far,” Dave Clegern, a spokesman for the California Air Resources Board, told ME in an email. The federal rule proposed in August aims to run over California’s historical prerogative to set its own mileage standards, but the state is hoping it can find a deal to avoid a long court battle.

CARB has been trying to get more information from EPA and automakers, not least the mortality data that formed the core argument for freezing the standards at 2020 levels. CARB sent a letter to NHTSA and EPA asking for a wide range of supporting information from the proposed rule, and it sent letters to automakers asking them their compliance plans for fuel economy standards. “There is no way to continue this conversation without a full understanding of how the [car makers] plan to proceed with compliance and evidence of the burdens they face,” Clegern said in an email. “By the same token, CARB is unable fully to evaluate the federal proposal based on the information made available to date.”

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