Posted on 05/19/2009 11:30:25 AM PDT by reaganaut1
President Obama announced tough new nationwide rules for automobile emissions and mileage standards on Tuesday, embracing standards that California has sought to enact for years over the objections of the auto industry and the Bush administration.
“For the first time in history, we have set in motion a national policy aimed at both increasing gas mileage and decreasing greenhouse gas pollution for all new trucks and cars sold in the United States of America,” Mr. Obama said in remarks from Washington, flanked by officials from Michigan and California.
The rules, which will begin to take effect in 2012, will put in place a federal standard for fuel efficiency that is as tough as the California program, while imposing the first-ever limits on climate-altering gases from cars and trucks.
The effect will be a single new national standard that will create a car and light truck fleet in the United States that is almost 40 percent cleaner and more fuel-efficient by 2016 than it is today, with an average of 35.5 miles per gallon.
Environmental advocates and industry officials welcomed the new program, an accord that Mr. Obama said “would have been considered impossible” in the past.
But they welcomed it for different reasons. Environmentalists called it a long-overdue tightening of emissions and fuel economy standards after decades of government delay and industry opposition. Auto industry officials said it would provide the single national efficiency standard they have long desired, a reasonable timetable to meet it and the certainty they need to proceed with product development plans.
Yet the industry position represents an abrupt about-face after years of battling tougher mileage standards in the courts and in Congress, reflecting the change in the political climate and the automakers’ shaky financial condition.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
ping
WTH is he to arbitrarily set rates or fire CEOs anyway? What happened to by the people and for the people?
Next thing you know the feds will have to restrict family size, because you can only fit so many people in subcompact cars.
Environmental advocates and industry officials welcomed the new program, an accord that Mr. Obama said “would have been considered impossible” in the past.It would have been impossible before the Government owned the auto industry.
Will Hussein’s little putt-putts haul a cord of firewood up my hill to my thousand-foot elevation property?
I think not.
The luxury model will be the "USA" .. cue old Doris Day Chevy jingle .....
EXCELLENT.
Froggie like wasser, wasser all nice and warm.....
And when gastax revenues drop due to alternates and higher efficiencies, bang, mileage fees, MA is going to put a sales tax on gas, or rather, remove the exemption, lol.
SWEET!
Will this help Chrysler and GM return to profitability? Even if you think this is a good idea, couldn’t they delay for some years to let them get back on their feet? Here they are going to have to re-tool and absorb lots of new costs and pass along price increases at a point where they are financially weak.
too many posts on this one today...
They were deserting him last week with his torture shenanigans.
That's why this socialist announcement now, IMHO.
It wasn’t Doris Day. It was Dinah Shore.
Just trivia that an aging useless eater such as myself remembers........
~</;o)
We all know how well California is doing via government dictate don't we.
Socialist translation: We are imposing more regulations on the serfs in order to eliminate more of their freedoms with the goal of replacing the Democratic Republic with socialism.
This has nothing to do with bringing Chrysler or GM back to profitability. This has to do with crippling that thorn in the side FORD who refuses to roll over and die like the rest.
It was lost in translation via "public education".
We need to vote the bums out. 4 years of hell will be bad enough.
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