# Margo T. Oge

Margo T. Oge, an engineer, environmental regulator, and author, has made significant contributions to air quality and transportation emissions standards in the United States. Over the course of her career, she dedicated 32 years to the Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) retiring in 2012.

## Early life and education

Born in Athens, Greece, Oge studied in the United States and received a master's degree in engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. She later attended George Washington University and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

## EPA career

Oge began working at the EPA in 1980 in the Office of Toxic Chemicals. In 1986 she was assigned to the office of Rhode Island Senator John Chafee. While there, Oge helped draft a law requiring the plastic six-pack rings to be biodegradable. In 1990 she became the director at the EPA's Office of Indoor Air and Radiation. In 1993, her office released a report finding that secondhand smoke represented a public health danger. The report was attacked by the tobacco industry and not formally released until courts ruled in favor of EPA in 2002.
In 1994, Oge became director of the Office of Transportation and Air Quality. While there, her office issued multiple regulations aimed at reducing harmful emissions in the transportation industry. In addition to automobiles and trucks, these programs targeted reductions of toxic emissions from heavy-duty trucks, buses, locomotives, marine vessels, off-road equipment gasoline and diesel fuel. Combined, the programs are estimated by the EPA to prevent over 40,000 premature deaths and hundreds of thousands of respiratory illnesses each year. Her office also implemented the Renewable Fuel Standard, which will increase the volume of biofuels in the United States' fuel supply.

## 2010 and 2012 greenhouse gas regulations

In 2009, Oge's office, in conjunction with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the state of California, began negotiating new vehicle emissions and fuel economy regulations with automakers. These negotiations resulted in the 2010 light duty vehicle greenhouse gas and corporate average fuel economy standard. The measure targeted increases in fuel economy and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions for new cars in model years 2012 through 2016. These regulations represented the first significant increases in fuel economy since the mid 1980s. They were also the first ever federal regulation to mandate reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
In 2011 Oge led EPA's efforts working with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to set the first climate action to reduce greenhouse gas and improve fuel efficiency of medium to heavy duty trucks up to 23 percent from 2014 to 2018 and save fleet owners $50 billion annually.
In 2012, Oge again lead the EPA efforts on regulation that extended the greenhouse gas emissions reductions through 2025. The regulation will require automakers in the US market to double the fleet-wide fuel efficiency of their 2025 models to 54.5 mpg. The deal also requires automakers to cut greenhouse gas emissions from their 2025 models in half from 2010 levels. The EPA estimates that, by 2025, these rules will double fuel efficiency of cars and trucks, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent and save consumers $1.7 trillion in fuel costs. In September 2014, The Economist ranked these standards as the world's sixth most effective measure in slowing climate change.
The regulations require a mid-term review in 2018 and have recently been attacked by auto industry officials.

## Post-EPA life

Oge retired from the EPA in September 2012 and has since become a prominent voice in climate policy and sustainable transportation. She currently serves as the Chair Emeritus of the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) and is a member of the board of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). Additionally, she holds the distinction of being a Distinguished Fellow with the ClimateWorks Foundation. Oge is also an advisor to several esteemed organizations, including the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies, the Climate Imperative Foundation, and the Deloitte Center for Sustainability Progress
In the past, Oge was a member with the Volkswagen Group’s International Sustainability Council and served as a director on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Board on Energy and Environmental Systems. She also was a member and a member of the National Academies of Science Advisory Committee for the U.S. Global Change Research Program.
In April 2015, Arcade Press published her book titled Driving the Future: Combating Climate Change with Cleaner, Smarter Cars.
Oge is also a contributor to the esteemed website https://www.forbes.com/sites/margooge/ and has shared her insights and commentary with various media outlets, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, ABC, PBS, NPR, The Hill, Fortune, Time, and The Huffington Post.