NEW MEXICO LOOKS AT NEW VEHICLE EMISSION STANDARDS
SANTA FE (KSMX)- New Mexico will set its own fuel economy and pollution standards for cars, pickup trucks and SUVs in a break with federal authorities, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Tuesday from New York where she was participating in climate talks with other governors.
The move aligns New Mexico more closely with states including California that are resisting efforts by the Trump administration to revoke independent state authority to set greenhouse gas emission and fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks.
Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, said new state restrictions on vehicle emissions will start with model-year 2022 vehicles, and that New Mexico fuel economy standards will increase to an average of 52 mpg (22 kpl) by 2025. She criticized the rollback of federal fuel economy standards by the federal government as counterproductive.
New Mexico’s Environmental Improvement Board adopted clean car standards in 2007, under then-Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat, before repealing them in 2013, while Republican Gov. Susana Martinez was in office
