II 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2643 

To clarify the effect of certain final rules and determinations of the Environmental Protection Agency relating to greenhouse gas emissions standards 

for light-duty vehicles. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 10, 2018 

Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Ms. SMITH, 

Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. MERKLEY, and Mr. BENNET) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL 

To clarify the effect of certain final rules and determinations 

of the Environmental Protection Agency relating to 

greenhouse gas emissions standards for light-duty vehicles. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Greener Air Standards 

5 Mean Our National security, Environment, and Youth 

6 Saved Act’’ or the ‘‘GAS MONEY Saved Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds that— 

3 (1) in 2009, the National Highway Traffic 

4 Safety Administration of the Department of Trans5 portation and the Environmental Protection Agency 

6 reached an historic agreement with State regulators, 

7 automakers, the International Union, United Auto8 mobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement 

9 Workers of America, and leaders in the environ10 mental community to establish a program of Federal 

11 standards, known as ‘‘One National Program’’, to 

12 reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase cor13 porate average fuel economy for light-duty vehicles, 

14 in cooperation and alignment with the California Air 

15 Resources Board; 

16 (2) in 2012, as part of One National Pro17 gram— 

18 (A) the Environmental Protection Agency 

19 established final greenhouse gas emission stand20 ards for vehicles of model years 2017 through 

21 2025; and 

22 (B) the National Highway Traffic Safety 

23 Administration established final— 

24 (i) corporate average fuel economy 

25 standards for vehicles of model years 2017 

26 through 2021; and 


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1 (ii) augural standards for vehicles of 

2 model years 2022 through 2025; 

3 (3)(A) the standards described in paragraph (2) 

4 are based on the specific footprint of vehicles for the 

5 purposes of— 

6 (i) providing automotive manufacturers 

7 flexibility; and 

8 (ii) ensuring that consumers have a choice 

9 of a full range of vehicle sizes to meet their 

10 needs; and 

11 (B) under that footprint-based system, small 

12 vehicles are required to meet more stringent stand13 ards than large vehicles; 

14 (4) the Environmental Protection Agency, to15 gether with the National Highway Traffic Safety 

16 Administration and the California Air Resources 

17 Board, jointly published a robust research and anal18 ysis document, known as the ‘‘Technical Assessment 

19 Report’’, that clearly demonstrated that the existing 

20 standards are technically feasible and cost-effective; 

21 (5) in January 2017, the Environmental Pro22 tection Agency issued a final determination to main23 tain the existing greenhouse gas emissions standards 

24 for vehicles of model years 2022 through 2025, as 

25 prescribed by the final rule described in paragraph 


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1 (2)(A), noting that the standards could have been 

2 strengthened but were not, in order to ensure cer3 tainty for the automobile manufacturers; 

4 (6) the National Highway Traffic Safety Ad5 ministration— 

6 (A) as of the date of enactment of this 

7 Act, is assessing the augural standards de8 scribed in paragraph (2)(B)(ii); and 

9 (B) will conduct a rulemaking to prescribe 

10 final standards for vehicles of model years 2022 

11 through 2025; and 

12 (7) on April 2, 2018, the Environmental Pro13 tection Agency issued a final determination entitled 

14 ‘‘Mid-term Evaluation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions 

15 Standards for Model Year 2022-2025 Light-duty 

16 Vehicles’’, which— 

17 (A) rejected an extensive technical record 

18 that— 

19 (i) includes more than 2,000 pages; 

20 and 

21 (ii) was created through— 

22 (I) a research period of 8 years; 

23 (II) a review of several hundred 

24 published reports; 


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1 (III) hundreds of stakeholder 

2 meetings; and 

3 (IV) multiple opportunities for 

4 public comment; 

5 (B) failed— 

6 (i) to take into consideration extensive 

7 peer-reviewed publications, including from 

8 the technical staff of the Environmental 

9 Protection Agency, demonstrating the abil10 ity of automobile manufacturers to meet 

11 the standards described in paragraph (2) 

12 through model year 2025; and 

13 (ii) to provide evidence to refute the 

14 findings contained in the final determina15 tion of the Environmental Protection 

16 Agency entitled ‘‘Final Determination on 

17 the Appropriateness of the Model Year 

18 2022-2025 Light-Duty Vehicle Greenhouse 

19 Gas Emissions Standards under the Mid20 term Evaluation’’ and dated January 12, 

21 2017, that— 

22 (I) automobile manufacturers are 

23 well positioned, and have a wide range 

24 of technology pathways available, to 

25 meet the standards described in paraVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 Apr 11, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2643.IS S2643

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1 graph (2) at lower costs than pre2 viously estimated; and 

3 (II) although the technical record 

4 indicated that those standards could 

5 be made more stringent, maintaining 

6 the standards would provide regu7 latory certainty for the automobile in8 dustry; and 

9 (C) was not based on a complete technical 

10 review of the evidence, but was an attack on the 

11 largest climate policy in effect on the date of 

12 the final determination. 

13 SEC. 3. GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS STANDARDS FOR 

14 LIGHT-DUTY VEHICLES. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding the notice of the 

16 Environmental Protection Agency entitled ‘‘Mid-term 

17 Evaluation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for 

18 Model Year 2022-2025 Light-duty Vehicles’’ and dated 

19 April 2, 2018, the following shall have the force and effect 

20 of law: 

21 (1) The final rule of the Environmental Protec22 tion Agency entitled ‘‘2017 and Later Model Year 

23 Light-Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emissions and 

24 Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards’’ (77 


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1 Fed. Reg. 62624 (October 15, 2012)) (as in effect 

2 on April 1, 2018). 

3 (2) The final determination of the Environ4 mental Protection Agency entitled ‘‘Final Deter5 mination on the Appropriateness of the Model Year 

6 2022-2025 Light-Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas 

7 Emissions Standards under the Midterm Evalua8 tion’’ and dated January 12, 2017 (as in effect on 

9 April 1, 2018). 

10 (b) LIMITATION ON CERTAIN ACTIONS.—The Admin11 istrator of the Environmental Protection Agency may not 

12 issue any rules or take any action that would effectively 

13 reduce the stringency of greenhouse gas emissions stand14 ards required to be attained by each fleet of light-duty 

15 vehicles manufactured for sale in the United States for 

16 model years 2022 through 2025 under the regulation de17 scribed in subsection (a)(1), as affirmed by the final deter18 mination described in subsection (a)(2). 

Æ 


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