Clean and Efficient Cars Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 978 To preserve appropriate and achievable Federal standards for greenhouse gas emissions and corporate average fuel economy for cars and light trucks through model year 2025, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 5, 2019 Ms. MATSUI (for herself, Ms. ESHOO, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. RUSH, Ms. SCHA- KOWSKY, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. WELCH, Mr. LUJA´N, Mr. TONKO, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. LOEBSACK, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. RUIZ, Mr. PETERS, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. SOTO, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, and Mr. KENNEDY) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Com- merce A BILL To preserve appropriate and achievable Federal standards for greenhouse gas emissions and corporate average fuel economy for cars and light trucks through model year 2025, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Clean and Efficient 4 Cars Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:19 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H978.IH H978 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 978 IH SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 1 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following: 2 (1) In 2009, the Environmental Protection 3 Agency (EPA) and the Department of Transpor- 4 tation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Adminis- 5 tration (NHTSA) reached an historic agreement 6 with State regulators, automakers, the United Auto 7 Workers, and leaders in the environmental commu- 8 nity to establish One National Program for Federal 9 standards to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emis- 10 sions and increase corporate average fuel economy 11 (CAFE´) for light duty vehicles, in cooperation and 12 alignment with the California Air Resources Board 13 (CARB). 14 (2) In 2012, as part of One National Program, 15 EPA established final GHG emission standards for 16 model years 2017 through 2025 and NHTSA estab- 17 lished final CAFE´ standards for model years 2017 18 through 2021 and augural standards for model 19 years 2022 through 2025. 20 (3) The agencies’ standards are based on the 21 specific footprint of vehicles to provide automotive 22 manufacturers flexibility and ensure that consumers 23 have a choice of a full range of vehicle sizes to meet 24 their needs. Under the footprint-based system, small 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:19 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H978.IH H978 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 978 IH vehicles must meet more stringent standards than 1 large vehicles. 2 (4) A midterm evaluation of the standards for 3 model years 2022 through 2025 concluded that they 4 remain feasible for industry, with multiple pathways 5 for compliance, and are appropriate for achieving 6 the goals of cutting GHG emissions and increasing 7 fuel economy. 8 (5) In January 2017, EPA issued a final deter- 9 mination to maintain the existing GHG emissions 10 standards for model years 2022 through 2025 as 11 prescribed by the 2012 final rule. NHTSA is cur- 12 rently assessing the augural CAFE´ standards pro- 13 posed for model years 2022 through 2025 and will 14 conduct a rulemaking to prescribe final standards 15 for those years. 16 (6) The final GHG emission standards and 17 augural CAFE´ standards for model years 2022 18 through 2025 are projected to achieve an average 19 overall fleet-wide emissions target of 173 grams CO2 20 per mile and an average overall fleet-wide fuel econ- 21 omy target of 46.3 miles per gallon by the year 22 2025, resulting in a 540 million metric ton reduction 23 in greenhouse gases and a 1.2 billion barrel reduc- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:19 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H978.IH H978 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 978 IH tion in oil consumption over the lifetime of these ve- 1 hicles. 2 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con- 3 gress that maintaining the GHG and CAFE´ standards at 4 their current levels through model year 2025— 5 (1) is essential to achieving the projected fleet 6 wide average goals of 173 grams CO2 per mile and 7 46.3 miles per gallon; and 8 (2) will result in substantial benefits for Amer- 9 ican drivers, the environment, public health, and en- 10 ergy security. 11 SEC. 3. NHTSA AVERAGE FUEL ECONOMY STANDARDS FOR 12 2021 THROUGH 2025. 13 Section 32902(b)(2) of title 49, United States Code, 14 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub- 15 paragraphs: 16 ‘‘(D) AUTOMOBILE FUEL ECONOMY AVER- 17 AGE FOR MODEL YEARS 2021 THROUGH 2025.— 18 The Secretary shall, not later than 180 days 19 after the date of the enactment of this subpara- 20 graph, prescribe by regulation and maintain 21 fuel economy standards for model years 2021 22 through 2025 that are at least as stringent as 23 the final standards for 2021 and the augural 24 standards for 2022 through 2025 set out in the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:19 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H978.IH H978 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 978 IH 2012 joint EPA/DOT Final Rule on 2017 and 1 Later Model Year Light-Duty Vehicle Green- 2 house Gas Emissions and Corporate Average 3 Fuel Economy Standards. 4 ‘‘(E) RESTRICTION ON REVISING STAND- 5 ARDS OR CREATING NEW LOOPHOLES.—The 6 Secretary may not take any action that could 7 effectively reduce the stringency of the average 8 fuel economy standards required to be attained 9 by each fleet of passenger and non-passenger 10 automobiles manufactured for sale in the 11 United States for model years up to and includ- 12 ing 2025, including by revising the trading, 13 transferring, availability, or creation of cred- 14 its.’’. 15 SEC. 4. EPA GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSION STANDARDS 16 THROUGH 2025. 17 (a) AFFIRMING STANDARDS.—Not later than 180 18 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Adminis- 19 trator of the Environmental Protection Agency shall af- 20 firm, under section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 21 7521(a)), the greenhouse gas emission standards for light- 22 duty vehicles for model years 2017 through 2025 that 23 were published in the Federal Register by the Environ- 24 mental Protection Agency and the National Highway 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:19 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H978.IH H978 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 978 IH Traffic Safety Administration on October 15, 2012, in the 1 final rule entitled ‘‘2017 and Later Model Year Light- 2 Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Corporate 3 Average Fuel Economy Standards’’ (77 Fed. Reg. 62623), 4 including such standards for model years 2022 through 5 2025 that were found by the Environmental Protection 6 Agency to remain appropriate in the ‘‘Final Determination 7 on the Appropriateness of the Model Year 2022–2025 8 Light-Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards 9 under the Midterm Evaluation’’ issued in January 2017. 10 (b) RESTRICTION ON REVISING STANDARDS OR CRE- 11 ATING NEW LOOPHOLES.—The Administrator of the En- 12 vironmental Protection Agency may not take any action 13 that could effectively reduce the stringency of greenhouse 14 gas emission standards required to be attained by each 15 fleet of light-duty vehicles manufactured for sale in the 16 United States for model years up to and including 2025, 17 including by revising the trading, transferring, availability, 18 or creation of credits. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:19 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H978.IH H978 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS