Client: California Attorney General Office and California Air Resources Board
Authors: Liz Stanton, PhD, Ricardo Lopez, PhD and Bryndis Woods
October 2018
AEC-2018-09-WP-01
On behalf of the state of California Attorney General's office and the California Air Resources Board, this Applied Economics Clinic white paper assessed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) August 2018 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding “The Safer Affordable Fuel Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule for Model Years 2021-2026 Passenger Cars and Light Trucks”. If approved, the Proposed Rulemaking would revise CAFE and CO2 standards, making them less stringent. Clinic Director and Senior Economist, Liz Stanton, PhD, Senior Researcher Ricardo Lopez, PhD, and Researcher Bryndis Woods found that several of NHTSA/EPA's assumptions and conclusions are unfounded.