11/16/11 4:38pm

Article By: Marty Niland

The Obama administration has formally unveiled its plan to upgrade nationwide automobile fuel economy and emissions standards, building on an agreement announced in July.

The plan for model years 2017-2025 calls for corporate average fuel economy to ramp up to 54.5 miles per gallon for passenger cars and trucks. Passenger cars would be required to average 56 miles per gallon in the final year, with light trucks set to average 40.3 mpg.

The EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimate that the proposal will reduce oil consumption by 4 billion barrels and cut 2 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas pollution over the lifetimes of the vehicles sold in those years. Taken together with the administration’s previous efforts to increase fuel efficiency, the agencies say oil consumption will drop by 2.2 million barrels per day by 2025, enough to offset almost 25 percent of current oil imports.

The announcement elaborates on a deal struck in July among the administration, major automakers, the state of California, unions and environmental groups.  The proposal will be open for public comments for 60 days after it is published in the Federal Register, and the EPA and Department of Transportation plan to hold several public hearings around the country.