In a statement released today, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) expressed disappointment and concern over the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) announcement that it was finalizing greenhouse gas emissions standards for 2022-2025 model year light duty vehicles, despite the long-standing agreement with auto makers to conduct a robust mid-term evaluation.
AISI said the association and its customers in the auto industry have significant concerns about these proposed standards and have been working with the EPA and other agencies to continue to provide comments on the rule. However, EPA rejected a host of requests to extend the abbreviated comment period on the proposal. Today’s final determination comes just a few weeks after that comment period ended.
Thomas J. Gibson, president and CEO of AISI, said, “Steel is a key part of the solution for the auto sector in their work to lower greenhouse gas emissions. However, we are very concerned that the good faith efforts by our industry and our customers were short-circuited by the outgoing Administration this week. EPA’s attempt to push through a final regulation, before all of the public comments were thoroughly considered, contradicts their commitment to coordinate its rulemaking across other agencies and in cooperation with stakeholders. We are very disappointed and will be working with the incoming Administration to continue to help automakers ensure that vehicles remain affordable, consumers continue to have a wide range of vehicle choices, and jobs are preserved.”