Auto dealers up campaign urging Biden administration to halt EPA tailpipe emission limits regulation

More than 4,700 auto dealerships across the United States urged President Joe Biden in a letter Thursday to halt the Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to enforce stricter vehicle-pollution standards.

The missive comes just weeks before the agency’s expected ruling on its tailpipe-emissions proposal, which addresses both climate change and pollutants that are harmful to health.

It is the second letter that auto dealers have sent to the White House in two months on the EPA’s upcoming ruling, which could codify the agency's strictest-ever tailpipe emissions limits, proposed last April. The dealerships said Thursday that the Biden administration did not respond to their first letter sent on Nov. 28.

The agency and administration did not return request for comment.

With the world focused on trying to limit warming to no more than 1.5-degree Celsius temperature above pre-industrial times, the administration has an ambitious goal to cut domestic planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030. Part of its focus is on the transportation sector, 58% of the emissions from which come from passenger cars and trucks, according to the EPA. The regulation also limits hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter into the air. These emissions cause a host of health issues and disproportionately affect people who live near heavy traffic.

The EPA says its proposed regulations would require up to two out of every three vehicles sold in the U.S. to be electric by 2032. That’s higher than the administration’s target of 50% set two years ago.

The regulations, which impact light- and medium-duty vehicles beginning with the 2027 model year, could mean a 56% drop in projected greenhouse gas emissions from the fleet,