Obama urged to pump up fuel efficiency standard

A coalition of 19 environmental groups has written to US president Barack Obama urging him to push through ambitious fuel efficiency standards that could at least partly make up for his failure to pass climate change legislation.

The group, which includes Environment America, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club and the Union of Concerned Scientists, said increasing fleet-wide average fuel efficiency standards to at least 60 miles per gallon (mpg) would save 49 billion gallons of fuel and 535 million metric tons of carbon emissions a year by 2030.

It also recommends that the government adopt new fuel efficiency standards for trucks that would see them reduce fuel use by 35 per cent.

The letter, which comes just weeks ahead of two critical proposals for new post-2016 fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks from the Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), argues that US auto manufacturers could meet the demanding targets relatively easily.

"The technology exists to boost fuel efficiency and cut tailpipe pollution for all types of vehicles," it said. "Strong standards are needed to unleash this country’s greatest resource: American ingenuity. It will revitalise our economy and keep jobs in America."

The letter is part of a national campaign, dubbed Go60mpg, which aims to increase pressure on the president to tighten fuel efficiency standards.

Green groups are increasingly lobbying for the adoption of environmental regulations that the administration can impose without approval from Congress after efforts to pass a wide-ranging climate change bill were scrapped by the Senate earlier this summer.

In addition to calling for tougher fuel efficiency standards, which can be imposed using the existing Clean Air Act, environmentalists are also pushing for the EPA to accelerate the rollout of new rules governing emissions from power plants and industrial sites.