Letter to Mr. Steven Cliff, Deputy Administrator of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration - Matsui and Colleagues Urge Biden Administration to Rescind Trump Rule Delaying Penalties for Fuel Economy Violations Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Print This Page Share by Email

Letter

Dear Deputy Administrator Cliff,
We urge the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to swiftly
rescind a Trump Administration rule delaying the effective date of inflation-adjusted penalties
for violating fuel-economy standards.
Congress mandated that NHTSA establish "maximum feasible' fuel economy standards
for cars and light-duty trucks with the overarching goal of conserving energy.1
Robust fuel
economy standards have spurred dramatic reductions in fuel consumption, greenhouse gas
emissions, and harmful tailpipe pollution, providing much needed relief to communities
threatened by the climate crisis and suffering from the ill-effects of air pollution.2
Further,
strong standards have saved consumers billions of dollars at the pump and spurred investment,
innovation, and job creation in the automobile industry, helping the United States develop a
technological advantage over international competitors.3
A key to a successful fuel economy program is meaningful enforcement and civil
penalties for non-compliance. In 2015, Congress required that NHTSA increase its civil
penalties for fuel economy violations to account for inflation -- an increase from $5.50 to $14.00 per tenth of a mile per gallon.
4
The Trump Administration sought to subvert this Congressional
directive by first indefinitely delaying and then completely rejecting the increase in civil
penalties.5
On both occasions, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
rejected the Trump Administration's contravention of the law and ordered NHTSA to reinstate
the $14.00 penalty beginning with model year 2019 vehicles.
6
On January 14, 2021--just days
before President Biden was sworn into office--the Trump Administration published an interim
final rule extending the effective date of the civil penalty increase to model-year 2022.7
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. You have an opportunity to change course to
fulfill the new Administration's goal to conserve energy, combat climate change, and protect
public health. We urge you to rescind the Trump Administration's rule and apply the full civil
penalty for fuel economy violations now.
We thank you for your attention to this important matter. If you have any questions
about our request, please contact Laura Forero at my office at Laura.Forero@mail.house.gov.

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