The EPA’s power grab over vehicle gas mileage standards has been dealt a major blow by Congressmen John Carter (R-TX) and Steve Austria (R-OH), who teamed up to pass a pickup truck-saving amendment to the Interior and Environment Appropriations Act in full House Appropriations Committee Action.
“We are trying to stop nothing short of the brazen EPA attempt to override congressional fuel mileage standards oversight and impose a radical leftist agenda,” says Carter. “There is no way that pickup trucks could stay on the market at prices affordable for average Americans under these kind of restrictions. Washington bureaucrats are so out-of-touch with real life in America they can’t conceive of the personal and economic damage they would cause by effectively taking the American pickup off the road for our farmers, ranchers, construction workers, and so many others who rely on them to do their daily jobs.”
Both Carter and Austria submitted amendments stripping the Environmental Protection Agency of the ability to issue regulations on vehicle fuel economy that conflict with the standards authorized by Congress under the Corporate Average Fuel Economy Program, known as CAFÉ standards. The pair agreed to unite behind the Austria amendment.
At issue was the EPA attempt to bypass the CAFE standards and impose a 56.2 miles-per-gallon (mpg) average fuel economy standard for the 2017-2025 model years. A fleet fuel economy standard average that high would effectively price thousands of Texans out of the new pickup market, and cause pickups to shrink in size potentially up to 25 percent.
Under current authorized CAFÉ standards, the auto industry is on track to meet a 34.1mpg standard for the 2012-2016, model years, and to surpass the Congressional goal of 35 mpg by 2020.
The Austria amendment passed the Committee by a 27-20 margin. The Interior and Environment Appropriations Act must next be passed by the full House and Senate and signed by the President before becoming law.
