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The Environmental Protection Agency will delay enforcement of a 2024 automobile emissions standard, a senior official said last week (Reuters, subscription). 

What’s going on: “In April 2024, the EPA finalized a rule requiring significant reductions in so-called ‘criteria pollutants’ emitted from passenger and commercial vehicles from the 2027 through 2032 model years.”

• The rule mandates a 50% reduction in criteria pollutants such as nitrogen oxides through 2032 for light vehicles and a 58% reduction for medium-duty vehicles.
• The EPA is considering maintaining the 2026 standard for an additional two years to give it time to reconsider the standard and its standard setting generally, the official told Reuters.
• The agency is also weighing whether to allow automakers to continue to use electric vehicles to meet the standard.

Not without permitting reform: At the time of the rule’s release, the NAM hammered home the need for permitting reform, saying  that without it, the new standard was unfeasible.

• “Successful implementation of this policy will still require congressional action on the permitting reforms needed to build the charging infrastructure to support this transition,” NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons said. “That includes the ramping up of electricity production and developing a reliable domestic supply of critical minerals.”

Why it happened: The new standards “were causing adverse impacts,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin told reporters last week.

• “By heeding those concerns, it’s going to have a positive impact on the auto industry, on auto jobs and bringing down the cost of vehicles and increasing consumer choice.” 

The NAM’s view: “Manufacturers have for decades demonstrated a track record of delivering more efficient vehicles for our customers,” NAM Vice President of Domestic Policy Chris Phalen said . “But without one of our keystone priorities—comprehensive permitting reform—the previous administration’s emissions standards are not simply onerous; they are for all practical purposes impossible. The EPA’s decision to give manufacturers more time is a step in the right direction to right-sizing this regulation to deliver for customers and the environment.”