Jobs in communities all over the country—and America’s competitiveness in manufacturing critical technology—could be at risk should the Trump administration step back from these highly successful fuel economy and greenhouse gas standards for vehicles. In anticipation of the Environmental Protection Agency’s pending announcement, Lee Geisse, regional program manager for the BlueGreen Alliance in Ohio, said:

“Innovation to meet smart fuel economy standards has driven investment in manufacturing and job creation in Ohio and around the country. Ohio has the third most workers employed building clean, fuel-efficient vehicle technology in the nation, with almost 28,000 jobs in that sector. If the EPA chooses to write new rules, we urge them to keep the standards strong to continue the innovation, investment, and job growth we are seeing in Ohio.”

Resources

The BlueGreen Alliance recently released a report entitled Driving Investment: How Fuel Efficiency is Rebuilding American Manufacturing tracking investment in the nation’s automotive plants over the past decade as automakers have implemented current fuel economy and vehicle greenhouse gas standards. The report illustrates how standards drive innovation and enhance manufacturing growth, and it shows how what are often described as the “costs” of compliance with clean vehicle standards actually represent a multi-billion dollar reinvestment in American manufacturing and jobs nationwide. Specifically the report found:

• A total of $76 billion in new and promised investment in the nation’s automotive plants since 2008.
• In Ohio alone, there has been over $10 billion in new and promised investment in 17 factories since 2008. 
• U.S. automakers have invested $64 billion in facilities across the country, completing 258 investments at 100 factories.
• An additional $12 billion in investments in 37 facilities are underway or promised by 2020 nationwide.

While some of that $76 billion represents business-as-usual investment, a significant portion is new, added, or enhanced investment in the innovative products and manufacturing processes to meet the nation’s commonsense fuel economy and greenhouse gas standards. View a visualization of those investments here. 

Driving Investment builds on a May 2017 report, Supplying Ingenuity II: U.S. Suppliers of Key Clean Fuel-Efficient Vehicle Technologies, from the BlueGreen Alliance and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which underscores how leading vehicle fuel economy and greenhouse gas standards have been critical to the automotive recovery, and remain critical to sustaining it. The report found:

• More than 288,000 workers in 1,200 factories and engineering facilities in 48 states are building the components, materials, and technology needed to make today’s vehicles more fuel efficient than ever.
• 27,838 workers in Ohio were found to be building technology that specifically contributes to improving fuel economy.
• Combined with our interactive map, you can see the economic reach of this enhanced investment in a new generation of cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles.