The Trump administration’s plan to scale back the higher mileage standards for new cars proposed under the Obama administration is safer and more environmentally friendly because the lower standards will encourage more new car sales, the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Monday.
“We want to encourage people to buy new cars,” EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said during a visit to a Superfund site in Chattanooga on Monday. “Older cars are worse for the environment and for public safety.”
EPA said the average car on American roads today is 12 years old, or 25% older than a generation ago, and Wheeler said the stricter mileage standards set by California and by the previous administration will boost car prices by an average of $2,300. Those higher prices encourage more people to stick with older, dirtier and less efficient automobiles, Wheeler said.
The EPA head defended his agency’s decision to challenge California and a dozen other states that are proposing stricter mileage standards for new cars, claiming America needs a consistent standard across the country to help auto makers and consumers.
“We have to have one national standard for automobiles,” he said. “The standard we proposed last year will produce less expensive cars for the consumer and will save lives. We can’t have one state dictating what the standards are for the entire country, particularly when they are only looking at one policy and that is greenhouse gas emissions.”