cars and light trucks, which threatens our state’s
TRANSCRIPT
October 26, 2018
The Honorable Andrew Wheeler
Acting Administrator
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Docket ID. No EPA-HQ-OAR-2018-0283
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington DC, 20460
The Honorable Elaine Chao
Secretary
U.S. Department of Transportation
Docket ID No. NHTSA-2018-0067
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
RE: The Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule for Model Years 2021-2026
Passenger Cars and Light Trucks (Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2018-0283 / NHTSA-2018-0067)
Dear Acting Administrator Wheeler and Secretary Chao:
On behalf of the State of Washington, I write to express strong opposition to the proposed rule
entitled Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule for Model Years 2021-2026 Passenger
Cars and Light Trucks, which threatens our state’s authority to set higher emissions reduction targets,
thwarts progress on combatting climate change, and poses a risk to our residents. For these reasons,
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Highway Transportation Safety
Administration (NHTSA) should withdraw this flawed proposal and uphold the California waiver
and other states’ rights to adopt its standards.
We are facing an unprecedented challenge as a nation and as a global community to combat the
threat of climate change. The recent report issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
is a sober reality check about the urgency of acting now to reduce carbon emissions and protect our
planet from reaching an irreversible tipping point of destructively high temperatures. Rather than
seizing the opportunity to showcase our ability to invent and build the technologies that will fuel a
carbon-free future, this proposal is doubling down on the old, polluting technologies that have helped
create this threat in the first place.
Clean car standards are some of the most economical investments ever designed to clean up pollution
– these standards have spurred manufacturers to design ways of making our cars run more cleanly
and efficiently, saving consumers billions of dollars and helping clean our air. We have witnessed
rapid and cost effective development of advanced vehicle technology spurred by California’s
regulations. Past vehicle standards have been achieved faster and at lower cost than experts
predicted, and those standards have helped consumers by delivering cleaner, more efficient
vehicles.
In Washington State, we have adopted aggressive greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets. Motor
vehicles are by far our largest source of those emissions. As a Section 177 state, Washington relies
on the California Advanced Clean Cars program to maximize vehicle emission reductions and drive
the development of a cleaner, low-carbon transportation sector. Maintaining California’s authority to
adopt motor vehicle emission standards and the right for states like Washington to opt into those
The Honorable Andrew Wheeler
The Honorable Elaine Chao
October 26, 2018
Page 2
standards, is vitally important to achieving our goals and protecting our communities. We will not
meet our targets without significant additional reductions from the transportation sector. The
proposed rollback of federal standards, if allowed to stand, could add over 2.5 MMT of GHG
emissions into Washington’s atmosphere by 2035.
This Administration’s proposal to withdraw the existing federal standards under the unified national
program is an unacceptable abdication of leadership at a time when the stakes for the health and
safety of Americans couldn’t be higher. Furthermore, it undermines our state’s ability to mitigate
those threats at this critical time. It fails to uphold needed and achievable national standards,
undermines states’ rights and threatens the health and safety of our residents. For these reasons, this
proposal must be withdrawn.
Enclosed, please find a comprehensive evaluation by the Washington State Department of Ecology
detailing the shortcomings and dangers of this proposal. If you have any questions, please contact my
office in Washington, DC (Casey Katims, Director, [email protected], or Sharlett Mena,
Deputy Director, [email protected]).
Very truly yours,
Jay Inslee
Governor
Enclosure
