But not everyone is happy with the EPA’s final 2027-2032 emissions rule. Some environmental groups see shortcomings in the new standards.

“Under the EPA’s updated clean car standards, more vehicle pollution will be avoided and more lives saved than would have been under current regulations. That is important to celebrate. But this rule falls far short of what is needed to protect public health and our planet. EPA is giving automakers a pass to continue producing polluting vehicles,” Chelsea Hodgkins, senior policy advocate with the climate program of the nonprofit group Public Citizen.

Public Citizen released a new report last week, “Stuck in Neutral,” which found that since 2019, 10 automakers and industry groups have pumped more than $183 million into lobbying efforts in Washington, D.C. to ease federal emissions requirements.

The largest spender was General Motors, with $48.6 million in lobbying, followed by Toyota at $31 million, and Ford at nearly $21 million since 2019. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, the industry association that represents major automakers, was the fourth-highest spender on vehicle-related lobbying from 2019-2023.

The top five automakers by U.S. sales – General Motors, Ford, Stellantis, Toyota, and Honda – have claimed that EPA’s stronger emission standards would hurt the industry’s bottom line.

The Public Citizen report complains that these same five automakers have profited from marketing and selling larger SUVs and trucks, earning nearly $293 billion in combined profits since 2018, paid shareholders nearly $78 billion in dividends, and repurchased nearly $41 billion of their own stock.

“Automakers seem to have no shame,” said Hodgkins. “For decades, they’ve chosen to drag their feet on improving their cars to the maximum extent possible and instead chose to follow in Big Oil’s footsteps, to spread public misinformation and dissuade policymakers from taking strong action.”

“These rules will save consumers money, protect the health of millions, and give us a shot at a liveable future. Big Auto’s multi-million dollar lobbying efforts and corrupting influence are a direct attack on this progress and our democracy,” Hodgkins argued.

Rev. Susan Hendershot, executive director of the California-based nonprofit Interfaith Power & Light, is another critic. “People of faith and conscience have been eagerly awaiting the newest set of light-duty vehicle emissions standards and are grateful to see these rules advance us in the right direction. However, the rules do not provide the stringency required to address the emergent climate and public health crises in our country. We have a moral opportunity as a nation, and a sacred task as people of faith, to care for our climate, to advance environmental justice, and to leave a safe and thriving world for current and future generations.”

Susan Stephenson, executive director of California Interfaith Power & Light, said, “With climate change ravaging our communities with heat waves, fires, and floods, the time for half measures has passed. We need strong clean car standards to cut pollution from our vehicles now. As people of faith called to love our neighbors and protect all of Creation, we are deeply concerned about the impacts of global warming and the risk it poses to the most vulnerable among us. If the federal government won’t do it, states like California must step up and take moral action to protect our communities and our world.”

From a different perspective, NATSO, representing America’s travel centers and truck stops, SIGMA: America’s Leading Fuel Marketers, and the National Association of Convenience Stores said in a statement, “The fastest, most efficient way to lower carbon emissions remains through technology-neutral, market-oriented, consumer-focused policies that encourage all fueling technologies to improve their respective emissions. This rule does not do that. Instead, it functions as an effective mandate for a single technology that at this point has not proven itself to be more viable than other compelling solutions.”