EPA drafts fuel economy rules

35.5-m.p.g. standard is planned for 2016

WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency has drafted its version of fuel economy rules setting a 35.5-m.p.g. standard for vehicles by 2016, the first move by the Obama administration to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said Monday.

The proposed rules under review by the White House would spell out the details of a compromise among automakers, state governments and the Obama administration to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions from cars and trucks. The administration is expected to make the rules public next month.

In limiting vehicle pollution linked to global warming, Jackson said the EPA will attempt to balance environmental concerns against standards that could hurt a struggling part of the U.S. economy. The compromise stopped California and more than a dozen other states from setting their own standards, a move automakers and dealers had warned could create chaos for the companies and among customers.

“I feel very optimistic that we will come out with a rulemaking package that will demonstrate to the American people that they can trust that the government is making one set of regulations so that we don’t have this patchwork,” she said in a roundtable with reporters Monday.

The rules will set out for automakers exactly how they can meet the standards starting in 2012. The industry and the public will be able to comment on the proposal for at least 90 days after it’s released, but the administration has to set final rules by next spring.

Detroit Free Press