Shortly after taking office, the Obama Administration embarked on a plan to adopt national vehicle emissions standards modelled on those of California and a dozen other states, reversing course from the Bush Administration, which had blocked the states from enacting their own, tougher standards.
Beginning with 2012 model year vehicles, which come on the market in January 2011, car makers must improve average fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions by 5% a year toward 2016 levels of 34.1
