Larisa Manescu, larisa.manescu@sierraclub.orgÂ
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In a lawsuit filed today in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council are challenging a final rule issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) last month that lowers the penalties for automakers failing to meet the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, a few days after a multi-state coalition of attorneys general filed their own lawsuit.
In 2016, the Obama Administration increased the CAFE penalty from $5.50 to $14 per tenth of a mile per gallon, as required by Congress under the Inflation Adjustment Act. In 2017, after the Trump Administration unlawfully delayed the implementation of the Obama rule increasing penalties, the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump NHTSA’s delay rule and won, with the Second Circuit overturning that rule and reinstating the $14 penalty. The Trump NHTSA has now issued a new rule to undo the Obama penalty and lower it to the amount in effect since the 1970s.
The transportation sector is the largest source of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States. Lower fines allow automakers to manufacture cars with lower fuel efficiency by simply paying a small fine; higher penalties, on the other hand, encourage compliance with the CAFE standards, which decrease climate-disrupting emissions and dangerous air pollution.
In response, the Sierra Club’s Senior Attorney Alejandra Núñez released the following statement:Â
“With today’s filing, we are again challenging an Administration that attempts to give away polluting passes left and right. There should be no question that automakers who lag behind on meeting standards that require them by law to make their vehicles more fuel efficient should pay the repercussions.
“We won’t stand by idly while the Trump Administration allows automakers to violate the law, spewing more climate-disrupting emissions into our air and threatening the health of Americans across the nation. Strong civil penalties, which encourage automakers to comply with CAFE, are a critical part of the clean car standards, one of our nation’s most effective climate policies. NHTSA must comply with the law and set effective penalties that promote fuel economy."
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.5 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.