We deserve cars with cleaner emissions, for ourselves and our future
What do you pay for a gallon of gas? $2.49 or more for regular unleaded? How many miles per gallon do you get? 20? 37? 60? Gee, those old enough can remember when they had gas wars and the price per gallon would be $.33 forcing the station across the street to go down to $.25. Of course mileage per gallon wasn’t good then, but it sure was cheaper to get around.
In 1975, a Federal standard was set. Automobile companies had to produce cars that would average 25 miles per gallon. This Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFÉ) proved to save hundreds of lives. In 2012, the Obama administration approved a more stringent set of standards, which would steadily increase the efficiency of certain vehicles through 2025 requiring them to average 50 miles per gallon.
These Clean Car standards are presently still in effect. But the Trump administration proposes a CAFÉ rollback. It would also take away authority for states to set their own standards. The new proposed rule would freeze standards after 2021 at about 37 miles per gallon. Who benefits? The auto industry. They call this the Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient Vehicles Rule (SAFE).
Safe for whom? With more carbon dioxide emissions due to a lower gas mileage standard, we get more air pollution. They say the proposed rule’s preferred alternative would reduce highway fatalities by 12,700 lives (over the lifetimes of vehicles through Model Year 2029). That’s not true according to a study from The National Bureau of Economic Research.
That study indicates that for auto companies to increase mileage, they will reduce the weight of the cars produced. In crashes of similar weight cars, lives saved will actually increase. Fuel efficiency standards make drivers safer.
Here’s some math: Suppose you are a traveling businessman driving a car 700 miles a week getting 50 miles per gallon at $2.49/gallon. That’s 14 gallons or $34.86. Now with lower efficiency standards, your new car gets 35 miles per gallon. That’s 20 gallons or $49.80.
Over a year, that’s a big difference even if the price of gas never goes up. In 2017, there were 242,754 autos and light trucks registered in Hamilton County.
But this is not just about the cost of gas-guzzling cars or the gas to run them. It’s about our health and that of the planet. The greatest air pollution comes from energy generation and transportation sources. Rolling standards back will expose millions of Americans to more climate-changing carbon pollution while jeopardizing our health.
Six million American kids suffer from asthma. Kaitee Johnson is a parent with two young girls, aged 5 and 2. The youngest is showing signs of possible asthma. “We all live in the Valley,” she says. “I do everything I can to give advantage to my girls and having clean air seems so obvious.”
She has let Senator Alexander know that we are holding our car companies to high standards for clean air. “Gas prices and cleaner air lead to lower gas costs and lower medical bills---any mother could agree on those things.”
Barbara Kelly is a recently retired guidance counselor at an elementary school. She tells of scrounging up money to assist working-poor parents pay high electric bills. As gas prices increased, parents would ask for money to take their kids to the doctor. Without insurance they couldn’t afford doctor trips, glasses, or psychological evaluations that limit school performance.
“Today, says Kelly, there are often a dozen kids in each class using nebulizers for breathing treatments.”
Less air pollution from cars would lessen asthma treatments and allow all children to play outdoors. Supporters of this proposed rule say it will reduce the cost of cars saving you money when you buy it. Maybe, but what good is a cheaper car if you can’t afford to run it? Perhaps accessible mass transit, electric cars, bikes, or golf carts are in order.
Comment on this bad idea: Go to http://www.regulatons.gov. Use Docket No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2016-0283 and follow instructions for making comments.
Sandra Kurtz is an environmental community activist, chair of the South Chickamauga Creek Greenway Alliance, and is presently working through the Urban Century Institute. You can visit her website to learn more at enviroedu.net