Governor: N.M. will boost clean car standards to 52 mpg by 2022
Santa Fe New Mexican – Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Tuesday that New Mexico will join 14 other states in adopting clean car standards requiring new cars sold in the state to emit fewer greenhouse gases.
The new standards will raise the average fuel economy to 52 miles per gallon, compared with 37 miles per gallon under proposed federal rollbacks, the Governor’s Office said in a statement.
“To combat climate change, to keep New Mexico’s citizens safe, to protect the air we all breathe, it’s essential we adopt more stringent clean car standards that increase fuel economy and reduce emissions,” Lujan Grisham said in the statement. “It is environmentally and economically counterproductive to stall fuel economy standards as contemplated by the proposed federal rollbacks.”
The move comes after the Trump administration revoked California’s authority to set mileage standards stricter than federal standards. California and nearly two dozen other states, including New Mexico, sued the administration Friday over that decision.
On Tuesday, Lujan Grisham said President Donald Trump “threatens to rob New Mexico and indeed all states of a valuable tool for combating air pollution and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions.”
The standards in New Mexico will be applied to new cars sold in the state beginning in model year 2022, the statement said.
The changes do not need legislative approval and will be put through the Environment Department’s regulatory process, a spokeswoman for the Governor’s Office said.
Environment Department Cabinet Secretary James Kenney said Tuesday the state will add incentives as it applies the new standards, such as for increasing the number of electric vehicles in state fleets and building infrastructure for electric vehicles.
The Governor’s Office said seven counties in the state are nearing “problematic ground-level ozone levels,” and pollution from transportation contributes significantly to those levels and greenhouse gas emissions.
In January, Lujan Grisham signed an executive order aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the state by at least 45 percent of 2005 levels by 2030. The order also called for the development of a regulatory framework to “secure reductions in oil and gas sector methane emissions.”
The governor also has signed the U.S. Climate Alliance’s Clean Car Promise, a pact made by a coalition of governors aiming to fight climate change and meet Paris Agreement goals.
Lujan Grisham made her announcement Tuesday at Climate Week in New York City, where she participated in a panel with other state governors to discuss climate change.
Source: US Government Class
