EPA RESPONDS TO BLUEWATERS CALL FOR MORE ACCURACY IN FUEL ECONOMY TESTING
Contact:
Danielle Fugere
(415) 544-0790, ext. x 15
San Francisco, CA – The Environmental Protection Agency released a long-awaited revision to its procedures for calculating new-vehicle fuel economy labels today. This proposed revision resulted from Bluewater Network’s June 2002 petition requesting EPA to revise its testing and calculation procedures to more accurately reflect the real-world fuel economy achieved by consumers on the road. Over 55,000 public comments were generated on the petition, with the majority of those comments noting that EPA’s labels overestimate fuel economy.
The benefits of accurate fuel economy labels are significant. “This proposal will allow better informed consumers to buy cars that decrease greenhouse gas pollution, reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, and save them money,” said Danielle Fugere, Global Warming Campaign Director for Bluewater Network, a division of Friends of the Earth. “A lot of car buyers use fuel economy data to help make their purchase decisions, especially with gas prices being so high. We think more accurate values will pull these buyers towards higher mileage vehicles.”
“Millions of consumers learned the hard way that the labels on their new vehicles significantly over-estimated the fuel economy of the cars they bought,” said Fugere. “Consumer Reports found that EPA’s fuel mileage values were overestimated by as much as 40-50% for some vehicle models in city driving. Consumers can end up paying up to $500 a year more on gasoline than they expected when they bought their cars. Given that there are 220 millions cars on the road in the U.S., Americans are spending tens of billions of dollars a year on unintended fuel costs.”
Bluewater is optimistic that EPA’s new regulations will provide more accurate fuel economy data for consumers. This proposal addresses many of the principle factors contributing to current fuel label inaccuracies, including higher consumer highway speeds, aggressive driving, air conditioner use, and colder temperatures.” “These revisions are long overdue. It’s been more than 20 years since EPA last adjusted its test values to more closely track real world conditions,” noted Fugere.
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Bluewater Network is a national environmental organization dedicated to reducing dependence on fossil fuels & eradicating other root causes of air and water pollution, global warming, & habitat destruction.
Bluewater Network – a division of Friends of the Earth ~ 311 California, Suite 510 ~ San Francisco, CA94104
www.bluewaternetwork.org ~ [email protected]
T: 415.544-0790, F: 415.544.0796