Menendez, Booker Introduce Legislation to Block Trump Administration’s Efforts to Roll Back Fuel Economy Emissions Standards

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker today introduced the Greener Air Standards Mean Our National Security, Environment, and Youth (GAS MONEY) Saved Act, legislation that would block efforts by Trump Administration officials at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) to roll back strong fuel economy emissions standards. This legislation highlights the benefits of the existing fuel economy and vehicle greenhouse gas emissions standards and the dangerous impacts of the proposed rule released by the EPA and NHTSA last August.

“New Jersey has benefitted from strong environmental policies that have kept our air, water, beaches, and parks clean,” said Sen. Menendez. “The Trump Administration’s close ties to Big Oil is dangerous to our environment and I won’t stand by while this administration works to dismantle all the progress we’ve made. With the effects of Climate Change being felt across our nation, we must uphold our strong environmental standards so that our children and grandchildren can grow up in a cleaner and safer country.”

The GAS MONEY Saved Act would reinstate the 2012 fuel economy and vehicle greenhouse gas emission standards rule—which was reaffirmed by an extensive technical assessment report in 2016—and prevent EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler from weakening the standards. This proposed rule is being challenged by a coalition of 20 attorneys general and has been questioned by several major auto companies.

The fuel economy emissions standards are projected to save nearly 2.5 million barrels of oil a day by 2030, around as much oil as we currently import from OPEC countries every day, save consumers over $1 trillion, and reduce global warming pollution by six billion metric tons.

As part of Sen. Menendez’s Four Point Plan to stabilize rising gas prices, he called on the Trump Administration to abandon plans to rollback Obama-era fuel economy standards that would save the average car owner more than $6,000 over the life of the vehicle and cut that nation’s oil consumption by over two million barrels per day by 2025.

Senators Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) joined Sens. Menendez and Booker in introducing the bill.