Environmental organizations sued the Trump administration on Friday, challenging its decision to roll back vehicle fuel-efficiency requirements. The groups argue that the change will increase gasoline use and drive up fuel costs for motorists across the United States.
“It is unlawful for Trump to turn back the clock on fuel-efficient cars, forcing drivers to waste more money on gas and communities to breathe toxic air,” Katherine Garcia, director of Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All campaign, said in a statement.
The new Trump administration rules, announced Monday, revise the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, known as CAFE, which set the average mileage automakers’ vehicle fleets must achieve. Under the revised standards, manufacturers must reach a fleetwide average of 34.9 miles per gallon by 2031, down from the projected 50.4 miles per gallon required under rules enacted by the Biden administration.
The Department of Transportation said the new CAFE standards will reduce the average upfront price of a new vehicle by $1,300, lower annual oil consumption and give automakers greater flexibility in deciding which types of cars to produce. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the changes would also curb what he called an “illegal mandate” that required automakers to build more expensive electric vehicles that American families did not want.
The groups behind the lawsuit counter that weaker fuel-economy requirements will ultimately increase costs for drivers and raise vehicle emissions, which contribute significantly to climate change.
“Consumers need more fuel-efficient choices when considering new cars, and they deserve vehicles that get more miles per gallon and miles per dollar,” Robert Weissman, co-president of consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen and a plaintiff in the case, said in a statement.
The Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, Conservation Law Foundation and Environmental Defense Fund are also participating in the legal challenge.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, a typical passenger vehicle produces 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas, each year. Transportation accounted for 28% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2022, the latest year for which the EPA has data, the agency reports.
YOU MAY ALSO READ: JPMorgan Lawsuit Says Gay Employee Was Told: Quit or Be Fired
The national average price of gasoline stood at $4.40 per gallon on Friday. That was up from $3.16 a year earlier and approximately $2.98 shortly before the Iran war began in late February.
The environmental groups submitted their petition for review Friday to the U.S. Court of Appeals. The filing names Duffy and Jonathan Morrison, administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the agency responsible for setting CAFE standards.
Fuel-economy requirements were introduced during the energy crisis of the 1970s and have helped improve the average efficiency of vehicles over the decades.
