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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

New Cars: Fueling a Cleaner Future

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Friday, October 10, 2014   

DETROIT - Drivers are saving money at the pump, as U.S. fuel economy reaches an all-time high, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA reports model year 2013 vehicles achieved an average of 24.1 miles per gallon. That reflects a half-mile per-gallon improvement over the previous year, and an increase of nearly five miles per gallon since 2004.

Will Toor, transportation program director with the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project, says the numbers show automakers are working hard to achieve the federal government's fuel economy standards.

"Leading automakers really partnered with the administration and said, 'We can do this, and we're not going to fight it,' and instead are really focusing on a variety of improvements," says Toor.

The EPA credits the fuel-economy improvements to automakers' using more efficient technologies such as gasoline direct-injection engines, turbochargers, and advanced transmissions. The Obama Administration has standards in place requiring new vehicles average the equivalent of 54 miles per gallon by 2025.

Toor says getting better gas mileage will have a positive impact on reducing the emissions that cause climate change.

"Emissions from transportation account for about a third of the greenhouse gas emissions in the United States and the bulk of that is from personal vehicles," he says.

The EPA projects the increased fuel standards will double fuel economy by 2025, cut vehicle greenhouse gas emissions by half, and save Americans $1.7 trillion at the gas pump.


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