United States to Adopt California Mileage Standards

Following up on earlier reports that the White House this week will announce new national standards for vehicle fuel efficiency, The New York Times is reporting that the strategy is to adopt the strict mileage floors proposed in recent years by California and a number of other states. The effect, The Times reports, “will be a single national mileage rule that matches California’s strictest-in-the-nation standard.”

Under the new standard, the national fleet mileage rule for cars would be roughly 42 miles a gallon in 2016. Light trucks would have to meet a fleet average of slightly more than 26.2 miles a gallon by 2016.

The change will reduce greenhouse emissions from new cars and trucks by roughly 30 percent in 2016. Needless to say, environmentalists are pretty pleased with the way the week has begun.