U.S. fuel standards a victory, NWF says

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- New fuel economy standards proposed by the White House go a long way toward ushering in a greener economy, the National Wildlife Federation said.

The White House this week announced a measure that requires a fuel efficiency equivalent of 54.5 miles per gallon for model year 2017-2025 passenger cars and trucks.

The NWF hailed the proposal as a victory for U.S. energy security and for the environment.

"These deep oil savings give us the freedom to choose the foreign and domestic energy projects that best protect America's economy, security, land and wildlife for our children's future, while clean innovative auto manufacturing is building U.S. jobs and cutting pollution," global warming policy director Joe Mendelson said in a statement.

The Environmental Protection Agency claims the new standards would cut domestic oil consumption by 4 million barrels and avoid more than 2 billion tons of greenhouse gases over the lifetime of the model years outlined in the proposal.

Washington already proposed a fuel economy of 35.5 mpg by 2016. Beijing in 2009 had fuel efficiency standards of 35.8 mpg while Europe requires cars by model year 2016 to get 50 mpg.

Critics of Washington's proposal such as the National Automobile Dealers Association say most U.S. consumers aren't buying cars with high gasoline ratings and the new measures would price most of them out of the market.