EPA Transportation and Air Quality Chief Talks to BNET Autos About 35.5 MPG

(MoneyWatch)  Margo Oge , a Toyota Prius driver, is the director of the Environmental Protection Agency's office of transportation and air quality, and she sat down with BNET Autos just after a public hearing on the EPA and Department of Transportation's proposed standards mandating that cars sold in the U.S. reach 35.5 mpg by 2016. The standards are an updating of the 30-year old (and stagnant for 20 of them) Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) rules, but with reducing climate change added as part of the goals.

The EPA is hoping for cars to reach 250 grams of greenhouse gas carbon dioxide per mile, which is virtually the same thing as 35.5 mpg.

Contrary to conventional wisdom that predicted the automakers would never agree to sweeping regulation, the carmakers were actually on the podium with Barack Obama when he announced the program back in May. Environmental groups were there smiling, too.

And the public hearings have been mostly friendly, with the sole exception of the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), which actually likes the fuel economy provisions well enough but hates the EPA's granting of a waiver allowing California to regulate its own tailpipes. Auto dealers say their main fear is a "patchwork" of regulations, and although the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers (which represents 11 automakers, including the Big Three) is satisfied that won't be the case, the dealers aren't yet convinced.

Here's Oge talking on video about the likely impact of the EPA/DOT regulations--and the NADA opposition: Oge strikes a positive note. "What we have heard, across the board from car companies, the non-profit community and the states, is full support for our position," she said. "They recognize what we have done is important--using the Clean Air Act and the legal authority of DOT's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to put together a single national standard with one implementation."

Because of the waiver, California will be able to regulate tailpipe emissions in the state on its own between this year and 2011, but Oge says this should not be a serious concern for the automakers, who she said are already mostly in compliance with their current product plans.

NADA's actions against the EPA's waiver includes a legal action filed last month in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington. NADA was joined by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has led to some calls for automakers--including Toyota--to resign from the U.S. Chamber. "Anyone has the opportunity to challenge the government," Oge said. "But we believe we acted under the law that has been in place for 30 years, the Clean Air Act."

When the NADA suit was filed, the EPA said it granted the waiver "after a comprehensive analysis of the science and in adherence to the rule of law. The agency believes strongly it was the right decision and is fully confident it will be found by the courts to be entirely consistent with the law."

Despite the NADA suit and testimony, the hearings have mostly been a mutual admiration society. "Two years ago," said Oge, "if you told me I would be sitting in hearings with automakers, states and NGOs praising the administration's actions to regulate greenhouse gas, I would have been very surprised to say the least," she said.