By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, June 3 (Reuters) – Major automakers backed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposal to delay for two years enforcement of a regulation requiring significant cuts in air pollution from vehicles, but want the agency to move quickly to rewrite the rules.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group representing General Motors, Toyota Motor, Volkswagen, Ford, Stellantis and Hyundai, said at a public hearing that the delay is needed and called for “a reasonable, workable path forward” and for the agency to “establish realistic and durable long-term standards.”
Environmental groups criticized the delay, saying it would lead to an increase in preventable illness and premature deaths.
The EPA last month estimated that delaying former President Joe Biden’s anti-pollution rule would save automakers $1.7 billion. The proposal would delay compliance deadlines for light- and medium-duty vehicles, citing the decline in U.S. sales of electric vehicles, which it said made the more stringent pollution rules unattainable for manufacturers.
The automaker group said the decline in EV sales “has already stranded billions of dollars in investments.”
In April 2024, Biden’s EPA finalized a rule requiring significant reductions in so-called criteria pollutants emitted from passenger and commercial vehicles from the 2027 through 2032 model years.
Environmental Defense Fund fellow Rishab Jagetia said a two-year delay will result in billions of dollars in health harms, including more serious heart and lung diseases and early deaths. “Vehicle standards save lives,” he said.
The Biden rules require a 50% reduction through 2032 for light vehicles and a 58% cut for medium-duty vehicles in the six criteria pollutants: ozone, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and lead.
In 2024, EPA estimated $13 billion in annualized benefits due to reduced emissions of the pollutants that contribute to the formation of soot and smog.
The Trump administration has taken a series of steps to roll back vehicle regulations.
In February, it finalized its repeal of the “endangerment finding” for vehicles, a 2009 determination that greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health, which gave the EPA authority to regulate emissions from vehicles.
In December, the Transportation Department proposed significantly reducing the fuel economy requirements from model years 2022 to 2031, requiring 34.5 miles per gallon on average by 2031, down from 50.4 miles per gallon.
(Reporting by David Shepardson in WashingtonEditing by Bill Berkrot)
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