Easing of Auto Fuel Economy Rule Upheld

In a victory for the domestic automobile industry, a U.S. Court of Appeals today upheld a federal agency’s decision to lower the fuel economy standards for the 1986 model year.

The three-judge panel’s ruling upheld the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration’s decision to set the fuel standards at 26 miles per gallon on the ground that a higher level was not economically practicable.

Intervening in the case in support of the agency were Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp.

Congress set the fuel standards for the 1986 and subsequent model years at 27 1/2 miles per gallon, but gave the agency the flexibility to amend the standards to the “maximum feasible average fuel economy level.”

Four nonprofit consumer and environmental groups, along with the state of California, filed a lawsuit challenging the agency’s decision as arbitrary and capricious, saying that it ignored the need of the nation to conserve energy.

But the appeals court dismissed the suit.