I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 978 

To preserve appropriate and achievable Federal standards for greenhouse 

gas emissions and corporate average fuel economy for cars and light 

trucks through model year 2025, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 5, 2019 

Ms. MATSUI (for herself, Ms. ESHOO, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. RUSH, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. 

WELCH, Mr. LUJA ́N, Mr. TONKO, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. 

LOEBSACK, Mr. CA ́RDENAS, Mr. RUIZ, Mr. PETERS, Ms. BARRAGA ́N, Mr. 

SOTO, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, and Mr. KENNEDY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To preserve appropriate and achievable Federal standards 

for greenhouse gas emissions and corporate average fuel 

economy for cars and light trucks through model year 

2025, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Clean and Efficient 

5 Cars Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

2 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) In 2009, the Environmental Protection 

4 Agency (EPA) and the Department of Transpor5 tation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Adminis6 tration (NHTSA) reached an historic agreement 

7 with State regulators, automakers, the United Auto 

8 Workers, and leaders in the environmental commu9 nity to establish One National Program for Federal 

10 standards to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emis11 sions and increase corporate average fuel economy 

12 (CAFE ́) for light duty vehicles, in cooperation and 

13 alignment with the California Air Resources Board 

14 (CARB). 

15 (2) In 2012, as part of One National Program, 

16 EPA established final GHG emission standards for 

17 model years 2017 through 2025 and NHTSA estab18 lished final CAFE ́ standards for model years 2017 

19 through 2021 and augural standards for model 

20 years 2022 through 2025. 

21 (3) The agencies’ standards are based on the 

22 specific footprint of vehicles to provide automotive 

23 manufacturers flexibility and ensure that consumers 

24 have a choice of a full range of vehicle sizes to meet 

25 their needs. Under the footprint-based system, small 


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1 vehicles must meet more stringent standards than 

2 large vehicles. 

3 (4) A midterm evaluation of the standards for 

4 model years 2022 through 2025 concluded that they 

5 remain feasible for industry, with multiple pathways 

6 for compliance, and are appropriate for achieving 

7 the goals of cutting GHG emissions and increasing 

8 fuel economy. 

9 (5) In January 2017, EPA issued a final deter10 mination to maintain the existing GHG emissions 

11 standards for model years 2022 through 2025 as 

12 prescribed by the 2012 final rule. NHTSA is cur13 rently assessing the augural CAFE ́ standards pro14 posed for model years 2022 through 2025 and will 

15 conduct a rulemaking to prescribe final standards 

16 for those years. 

17 (6) The final GHG emission standards and 

18 augural CAFE ́ standards for model years 2022 

19 through 2025 are projected to achieve an average 

20 overall fleet-wide emissions target of 173 grams CO2

21 per mile and an average overall fleet-wide fuel econ22 omy target of 46.3 miles per gallon by the year 

23 2025, resulting in a 540 million metric ton reduction 

24 in greenhouse gases and a 1.2 billion barrel reducVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:19 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H978.IH H978

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1 tion in oil consumption over the lifetime of these ve2 hicles. 

3 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con4 gress that maintaining the GHG and CAFE ́ standards at 

5 their current levels through model year 2025— 

6 (1) is essential to achieving the projected fleet 

7 wide average goals of 173 grams CO2 per mile and 

8 46.3 miles per gallon; and 

9 (2) will result in substantial benefits for Amer10 ican drivers, the environment, public health, and en11 ergy security. 

12 SEC. 3. NHTSA AVERAGE FUEL ECONOMY STANDARDS FOR 

13 2021 THROUGH 2025. 

14 Section 32902(b)(2) of title 49, United States Code, 

15 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub16 paragraphs: 

17 ‘‘(D) AUTOMOBILE FUEL ECONOMY AVER18 AGE FOR MODEL YEARS 2021 THROUGH 2025.— 

19 The Secretary shall, not later than 180 days 

20 after the date of the enactment of this subpara21 graph, prescribe by regulation and maintain 

22 fuel economy standards for model years 2021 

23 through 2025 that are at least as stringent as 

24 the final standards for 2021 and the augural 

25 standards for 2022 through 2025 set out in the 


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1 2012 joint EPA/DOT Final Rule on 2017 and 

2 Later Model Year Light-Duty Vehicle Green3 house Gas Emissions and Corporate Average 

4 Fuel Economy Standards. 

5 ‘‘(E) RESTRICTION ON REVISING STAND6 ARDS OR CREATING NEW LOOPHOLES.—The 

7 Secretary may not take any action that could 

8 effectively reduce the stringency of the average 

9 fuel economy standards required to be attained 

10 by each fleet of passenger and non-passenger 

11 automobiles manufactured for sale in the 

12 United States for model years up to and includ13 ing 2025, including by revising the trading, 

14 transferring, availability, or creation of cred15 its.’’. 

16 SEC. 4. EPA GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSION STANDARDS 

17 THROUGH 2025. 

18 (a) AFFIRMING STANDARDS.—Not later than 180 

19 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Adminis20 trator of the Environmental Protection Agency shall af21 firm, under section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 

22 7521(a)), the greenhouse gas emission standards for light23 duty vehicles for model years 2017 through 2025 that 

24 were published in the Federal Register by the Environ25 mental Protection Agency and the National Highway 


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1 Traffic Safety Administration on October 15, 2012, in the 

2 final rule entitled ‘‘2017 and Later Model Year Light3 Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Corporate 

4 Average Fuel Economy Standards’’ (77 Fed. Reg. 62623), 

5 including such standards for model years 2022 through 

6 2025 that were found by the Environmental Protection 

7 Agency to remain appropriate in the ‘‘Final Determination 

8 on the Appropriateness of the Model Year 2022–2025 

9 Light-Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards 

10 under the Midterm Evaluation’’ issued in January 2017. 

11 (b) RESTRICTION ON REVISING STANDARDS OR CRE12 ATING NEW LOOPHOLES.—The Administrator of the En13 vironmental Protection Agency may not take any action 

14 that could effectively reduce the stringency of greenhouse 

15 gas emission standards required to be attained by each 

16 fleet of light-duty vehicles manufactured for sale in the 

17 United States for model years up to and including 2025, 

18 including by revising the trading, transferring, availability, 

19 or creation of credits. 

Æ 


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