"Enforcement of rule delayed until 2029 model year. Rule covers six pollutants responsible for smog. EPA says delay will save automakers $1.7 billion. Environmental groups say move will increase illness, deaths."
"WASHINGTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed a delay in enforcement of a regulation requiring significant cuts in air pollution from vehicles.
The EPA estimated that delaying former President Joe Biden's anti-pollution rule would save automakers $1.7 billion. Environmental groups criticized the delay, saying it would lead to an increase in preventable illness and premature deaths.
The EPA said the proposal, first reported by Reuters earlier Thursday, would delay compliance deadlines for light- and medium-duty vehicles for two years until the 2029 model year. It cited the decline in U.S. sales of electric vehicles, which it said made the more stringent pollution rules unattainable for manufacturers.
In April 2024, Biden's EPA finalized a rule requiring significant reductions in so-called "criteria pollutants" emitted from passenger and commercial vehicles from the 2027 through 2032 model years.
The Sierra Club criticized the move to delay enforcement of more stringent limits on pollutants from gasoline-powered vehicles. The group said the reductions are "readily achievable using commonsense, low-cost technologies already used by many vehicles."
The Sierra Club added that EPA’s analysis "shows that delaying the standards would sharply increase harmful pollution, preventable illness, and premature deaths.""
