Emissions Benefits of the Biden Administration's New Tailpipe Emissions Rules

The news broke that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had finalized new greenhouse gas emission standards for passenger car and light trucks on December 20, reversing standards imposed by the previous Trump administration and resetting to emissions standards put into place by the Obama administration.

Planetizen picked up the news at the time, focusing on the new standards (i.e., cars, SUVs, and pickup trucks must release an average of 161 grams of carbon dioxide per mile by 2026) and provided a brief recap of how the emissions standards administrations have seesawed between recent administrations, but another article by Emily Pontecorvo for Grist focuses on the environmental consequences of the new standards. Here, Pontecorvo summarizes the new rule at length:

The agency says the new standards will prevent 3 billion tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere over the next 30 years and will reduce gasoline consumption by 360 billion gallons. By reducing the amount of fuel burned, the standards will also lower emissions of other pollutants that harm public health, like microscopic particle pollution and nitrous oxides. The EPA expects the standards to generate $190 billion in benefits for Americans by improving public health, saving drivers money at the pump, and lessening the potential impacts of climate change. 

Pontecorvo also reports additional details of how the Biden EPA arrived at the new standards and more of the political milieu into which the new standards emerge.