On Tuesday, the EPA and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration finalized what is likely their most impactful and controversial rulemaking to-date during the Trump administration, the Safer Affordable Fuel Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles rule. The SAFE rule modifies the 2012 Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, standards, reducing the projected overall industry average required fuel economy for model year 2021 to 2026 vehicles from 46.7 miles per gallon to 40.4 mpg.
While numerous media reports are already propagating claims that this “regulatory rollback” will threaten public health, the rule still requires a fuel economy increase of 1.5% per year over the next six years. It is only a “rollback” in the sense that it is less than the 5% annual increase required by the 2012 rule.
