Court Rules Against Bush's Fuel-Economy Standards

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has ruled new light-truck fuel economy standards are insufficient and ordered new standards be written as "expeditiously as possible" for a class of vehicles that includes sport utility vehicles, pickups and other light trucks. A panel of judges said the Transportation Department's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [NHTSA] failed to account for the environmental impact of tailpipe emissions in a 2006 regulation. The NHTSA's standards require light-trucks to achieve at least 24 miles per gallon by 2011, which equals less than 2 mpg over 2007 models. The NHTSA said it had no comment and referred questions to the Justice Department, where a spokesman commenting on the decision said, "It's currently under review and we're considering our options." The case could be taken back to the appeals court or go to the Supreme Court. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the industry's leading trade association, was critical of the ruling, claiming the Bush administration's standards represented "the largest fuel economy increase in the history" of federal mileage standards. The Auto Alliance warned any changes to standards will result in delays to progress already made towards improving fuel economy, since automakers have already completed plans for 2011 models and are currently designing 2012 models. The Wall Street Journal reports the court's ruling is unlikely to affect vehicles sold before 2010 or 2011, since the government is required to give automakers lead time for changes to fuel-economy.

Sources: Reuters, Wall Street Journal
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