Trump Admin Weakens Clean Car Standards Despite Its Analyses Showing Rule Favors Big Oil Over Health, Climate
By Dana Drugmand • Tuesday, March 31, 2020 - 14:24
he Trump administration today announced the final rule that rolls back Obama-era clean vehicle standards, a move that, according to the government’s own analyses, is expected to benefit the oil industry and harm consumers, public health, and the climate.
Experts also warn it will result in litigation and global market inconsistency to the detriment of automakers.
The Safer Affordable Fuel Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles rule rolls back fuel economy and greenhouse gas emission standards for new cars and light duty trucks in model years 2021 through 2026. Under the standards adopted by the Obama administration in 2012, light-duty vehicles would be required to meet the average fleetwide fuel economy equivalent of 54.5 miles per gallon in model year 2025. Those standards were projected to save roughly 4 billion barrels of oil and cut carbon dioxide emissions by 2 billon metric tons while saving consumers more than $1.7 trillion in fuel costs.
The Trump administration standards require average fuel economy of only about 40 miles per gallon in 2025, with annual increases of 1.5 percent starting in 2021, as opposed to the 5 percent annual increase under the Obama standards. The laxer standards under the SAFE rule are expected to result in over a billion metric tons more climate pollution through 2040.
The move was condemned by former and some current Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employees.
“The new rule is a reprehensible debacle — our Climate Denier-in-Chief and his EPA and NHTSA political lackeys are massively rolling back our country’s most successful climate program, using the cover of the coronavirus pandemic to hide that they have no defensible rationale and opposition by many automakers,” said Jeff Alson, former EPA senior engineer and policy advisor in the Office of Transportation and Air Quality. “This senseless rollback will lead to a hotter and more dangerous planet for our children and grandchildren, and will take money from the pockets of American families to fatten oil company profits.” Alson has spent the last 10 years of his career working on the clean car standards.
More lies from @EPAAWheeler. The reality is that #CleanerCars standards reduce pollution, save families money, and are the best policy we have on the books to #ActOnClimate. With this rollback, the Trump admin once again proves it’s #StuckInReverse. https://t.co/fcct0hnU8t
— AFGE Local 704 (@704afge) March 31, 2020
The EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have for the past decade jointly set the greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy standards. The joint national program, first announced by Obama in 2009, came on the heels of the auto industry bailout and was welcomed by automakers.
The national program also aligned with stricter clean vehicle standards sought by California, which has authority under the Clean Air Act to adopt its own vehicle emissions standards.
Now automakers, though they had initially lobbied the Trump administration for weaker standards, could face more uncertainty especially given California’s legal challenge to the federal government’s revocation of its Clean Air Act authority. Several automakers including Ford, Honda, BMW of North America, and Volkswagen Group of America agreed last year to adhere to California’s more stringent vehicle standards, while a coalition of other automakers backed the Trump administration in the lawsuit, thus dividing the auto industry.
The new SAFE rule is expected to draw legal challenges from progressive states and environmental groups, creating further uncertainty for automakers. Experts also warn the rollbacks will disadvantage U.S. automakers competing in the global market as other countries move toward raising fuel economy and slashing climate emissions.
“Globally the goal posts for fuel economy standards and greenhouse gas emissions have moved significantly in the last two years with major markets moving forward as the U.S. is moving backwards,” said Margo Oge, former Director of the EPA Office of Transportation and Air Quality. “The EU, for example, set a new CO2 car standard at 76 [miles per gallon] for 2030 with an aggressive plan to transform the entire auto industry to electric vehicles. And, adding insult to injury, even EPA’s own analysis found that the new rule will result in a loss of thousands of auto industry jobs.”