Key designer of fuel mileage standards to leave EPA

By Zack Colman - 09/04/12 03:50 PM ET

One of the architects of recently finalized fuel economy standards for cars is retiring after more than 30 years with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Margo Oge, director of EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality, told staff in a Tuesday email first obtained by The Detroit News that she was leaving the agency at the end of the month. She was instrumental in brokering a deal between the White House, California and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for emissions standards that require all cars to get 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025.

EPA confirmed Oge’s departure to The Hill on Tuesday.

"Working together, this office — this team — made history," Oge said in an email to staff, according to the News. "Cars, trucks, buses, locomotives, marine engines and every other piece of equipment that moves and produces emissions have been transformed. The fuels they burn have been transformed. As a result of our actions, tens of thousands premature deaths, respiratory illnesses and other ailments will be prevented."

The joint EPA-Transporation Department fuel economy standards, known as the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, have underscored the differences between the GOP and Democrats on energy and carbon emissions policies.

The Obama administration said the new fuel standards will save consumers more than $1.7 trillion and cut national oil consumption by 12 billion barrels. But Republicans, including GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, have said they are unnecessary and argued increases in vehicle costs will wipe out savings at the pump.

Romney's campaign called the CAFE standards “extreme," even though the Republican candidate had supported similar standards as governor of Massachusetts. Obama said last week of Romney’s remarks that, “Maybe the steam engine is more his speed.”

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said last month that the administration browbeat U.S. auto firms into accepting the standards when the companies were still on the hook for a government bailout.

Democrats and environmental groups sharply criticized Issa’s comments. Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said the CAFE standards will spur the type of innovation that has helped the auto industry rebound and will reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil.