Letter to Ms. Barra - Feinstein Leads Senators in Calling on Automakers to Join California Fuel-Economy Agreement

Letter

Dear Ms. Barra,

We call on you to join the recent agreement between California and Ford, Honda, Volkswagen and BMW of North America to continue progress toward producing less polluting vehicles.

As representatives of states that signed the Nation's Clean Car Promise, we believe that General Motors joining this agreement would save consumers money, reduce emissions, and provide regulatory certainty to the auto industry.

In the absence of an agreement between the Federal government and states, the California agreement is a commonsense framework that provides flexibility to the industry to meet tailpipe standards while also taking important steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save money on fuel for consumers.

As you know, in 2012, national emissions standards were agreed to for Model Years 2017-2025. In 2018, the Trump Administration proposed to roll back these standards and freeze them at 2020 levels through Model Year 2026. Last month, automakers representing 85% of the U.S. market asked the White House to work with California to develop a single national standard, warning of uncertainty in the market and the auto industry jobs at stake. While the White House has refused this request, four automakers engaged California in the development of a proposal that provides the regulatory certainty requested by automakers and defends state authority under the Clean Air Act.

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