Gov. John Baldacci and other Mainers cheered a new federal proposal Tuesday that would require automakers to sell cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles.

The proposed standard – an average of 35.5 mpg by 2016 – is essentially the same one adopted years ago in Maine and 13 other states, but blocked by the Bush administration earlier this decade. The Obama administration's proposal would effectively take the states' emissions standards and apply them nationwide.

"This is a major achievement," said David Littell, commissioner of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. It means Maine consumers will soon see more efficient vehicles arriving at dealerships, he said.

"And since it's national, it will produce greater greenhouse gas reductions than when it was implemented in just the 14 states," Littell said.

The standards, first adopted by California, would reduce pollution from cars and trucks by lessening the amount of fuel they burn. Maine adopted the California standards in 2005, and a dozen other states followed.

The standards were challenged in court by auto manufacturers and blocked by the Bush administration, which said having different fuel-efficiency standards in certain states would create confusion and unnecessary costs for automakers.

The Obama administration negotiated an agreement calling for a new national standard at least through 2016.

"This is a giant victory for Maine and the New England states," said Steve Hinchman, a staff attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation in Maine who helped defend the state rules in court challenges. "There's no way it would have happened without the leadership and courage of our states. They've now won for the whole country."

Hinchman said gaining the support of the auto industry is a huge change.

"The only hope for Detroit is to build cleaner, more efficient vehicles," he said. "If we don't build efficient cars in this country, they'll build them elsewhere and send them here."

Gov. Baldacci issued a written statement saying that Obama's plan "will achieve the single biggest reduction in fossil fuel usage of any federal action to date. One national standard through 2016 will reduce the need for foreign oil and help automakers to adapt to the tougher regulations and become more competitive."

Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, praised the plan in a news release as "a watershed moment in our country's environmental history, and hopefully the launch of a strategy to finally establish national energy security." Snowe had co-sponsored a 2007 law requiring that automakers meet the same fuel economy standard by 2020, at the latest.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, also has pushed for more efficient vehicles, and commended the Obama administration in a written statement Tuesday.

"This proposal is the right thing to do for the environment, for the economy, for consumers and for America," she said.

Staff Writer John Richartdson can be contacted at 791-6324 or at:

jrichardson@pressherald.com