E&E News: Dems want Biden to scrap rule delaying penalty hike

California Rep. Doris Matsui and 16 other Democratic lawmakers are urging the Biden administration to rescind a Trump-era rule that would delay higher penalties for automakers who fail to meet gas mileage standards.

In a letter Monday, the lawmakers told National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Deputy Administrator Steven Cliff that undoing the rule is crucial for providing relief to communities threatened by climate change and the effects of air pollution.

"The Trump Administration's repeated attempts to give a pass to polluters not only violates the letter of the law, but also prevents NHTSA from holding automobile manufacturers accountable for emitting illegal quantities of harmful pollutants into the air and forcing cashstrapped consumers to pay more at the pump," the lawmakers wrote.

"You have an opportunity to change course to fulfill the new Administration's goal to conserve energy, combat climate change, and protect public health," said their letter.

The penalty rate for violating fuel economy standards was slated to increase in model year 2021 — from $5.50 to $14 — but in its final days, the Trump administration issued a rule delaying the effective date until model year 2022.

NHTSA, a division of the Department of Transportation, published the interim final rule in the Federal Register in January (Greenwire, Jan. 14). The measure is now undergoing review at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

"A key to a successful fuel economy program is meaningful enforcement and civil penalties for non-compliance," the lawmakers wrote. "We urge you to rescind the Trump Administration's rule and apply the full civil penalty for fuel economy violations now."

In 2015, Congress directed federal agencies to adjust a number of civil penalties to account for inflation. To comply, NHTSA, under President Obama, issued rules to increase fines from $5.50 to $14 per every 0.1 mile per gallon of fuel that new vehicles consume over the required standards. Automakers opposed the increase, saying it could cost the industry $1 billion in annual compliance costs.

In 2019, the Trump administration issued a final rule that would have effectively killed the Obama-era increase, but a panel of three Trump-appointed judges on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck it down last summer, delivering a win to environmentalists (Greenwire, Aug. 31, 2020).

If Trump's rule to delay implementation survives legal scrutiny, it could save the auto industry hundreds of millions of dollars.