June 9, 2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact
Milagros R. Elia
Program Manager, Climate and Clean Energy Advocacy
Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments
914.455.1165
Nurses Oppose Finalized Rule Making Cars Less Fuel Efficient
[Washington, D.C.]- On Friday, June 6, 2025, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) published a final rule, promulgated without notice or opportunity for public comment, entitled Resetting the Corporate Average Fuel Economy Program.
In response to the proposal, the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments Executive Director Katie Huffling, DNP, RN, CNM, FAAN issued the following statement: “The CAFE standards finalized during the Biden administration were set to prevent more than 900 million tons of CO2 emissions – the equivalent of taking more than 233 million vehicles off the road from 2022 through 2050. Rolling back standards that make vehicles more fuel efficient threaten the progress made in reducing dangerous air pollution and preventing adverse health outcomes, especially for our most medically sensitive groups such as children and older adults.”
“Even more problematic is that NHTSA bypassed the public input process to weaken a program that provides health benefits to Americans across the country. Over 300 ANHE nurse members in all 50 states urged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to propose strong long term clean cars standards which were eventually adopted and paired with the finalized NHTSA CAFE standards. Nurses strongly oppose efforts, such as rolling back health protective clean vehicle standards, that undermine the Clean Air Act.”
More health protective clean car standards approved under the prior Administration have also been recently rolled back.
While The U.S. Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration states that the June 6th rule does not itself change existing CAFE or medium- and heavy-duty standards, we should make no mistake that this now begins the rule making process to roll back the standards. This new ruling comes at a time when climate change is accelerating and the impacts on our daily lives is becoming all too clear as climate-fueled disasters occur on a regular basis.
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The Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments is the only national nursing organization focused solely on the intersection of health and the environment. The mission of the Alliance is to promote healthy people and healthy environments by educating and leading the nursing profession, advancing research, incorporating evidence-based practice, and influencing policy.
