Obama setting nation‘s sights on fuel efficiency

By ERICA WERNER and KEN THOMAS, Associated Press Writers Erica Werner And Ken Thomas, Associated Press Writers – Sat May 22, 3:22 am ET

Obama on Friday directed the government to set the first-ever mileage and pollution limits for big trucks and to tighten rules for future cars and SUVs.

With the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico underscoring the risks of the country‘s heavy reliance on fossil fuels, Obama gave federal agencies just over a year to come up with fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas emission standards for commercial trucks and buses.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, commercial trucks account for 21 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector — compared with 33 percent for passenger cars and 29 percent for SUVs, pickups and minivans.

At the same time, the EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will get to work on stricter standards for cars and light trucks like SUVs to kick in with the 2017 model year and carry through 2025.

"I believe that it‘s possible in the next 20 years for vehicles to use half the fuel and produce half the pollution that they do today," he said.

The president is ahead of the schedule he promised as a candidate. On the campaign trail, Obama pushed for the standards to increase 4 percent every year, which would have resulted in new cars and trucks achieving a fleetwide 40 miles per gallon by 2022.

While it‘s good to pursue fuel efficiency, he said, "we have to be mindful of unintended consequences."

AP Transportation Writer Samantha Bomkamp contributed to this report.

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White House memo on fuel efficiency standards:

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