Donald Trump’s administration is set to gut Barack Obama-era fuel efficiency standards on Tuesday, the New York Times reported, in a huge middle finger to anyone who cares about the environment and likely the White House’s biggest backtrack in federal climate policy.
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Donald Trump’s administration is set to gut Barack Obama-era fuel efficiency standards on Tuesday, the New York Times reported, in a huge middle finger to anyone who cares about the environment and likely the White House’s biggest backtrack in federal climate policy.
The EPA’s science advisory board warned in late February that it found “significant weaknesses in the scientific analysis of the proposed rule,” citing modifications that resulted in “implausible results.” As the NYT noted, many of the members of the board are Trump appointees. Consumer Reports wrote earlier this year that while a U.S. Senate report found the cost of a new car under the lower standards would be $977 to $1,083 less, their own analysis in 2019 found that the average fuel cost over the lifetime of a car would increase by $3,200. That is around a $300 billion net loss to consumers from 2021-2035.
That draft concluded that the 1.5 percent rollback would actually cost the U.S. economy $13 billion to $22 billion (with factors including that dirtier American cars might be locked out of foreign markets). According to the NYT’s more recent report, this weekend White House officials “looked at a new option for their cost-benefit analysis” that got the numbers they wanted, which is a polite way of saying making shit up. Well, other recent developments include the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has proven an opportunity for the Trump administration to push their anti-environmental agenda to even more extreme levels, like halting all EPA regulatory enforcement.
Former senior EPA vehicle emissions specialist and current Environmental Defense Fund consultant Chet France told the paper, “It’s not going to be supported by the science. This will be the icing on cake of the legal flaws.” France told the Associated Press that even with “the catastrophe they’re in with the coronavirus, they’re pursuing a policy that’s going to hurt public health and kill people.”
“The auto industry wanted a smoother glide path to a more efficient future,” Laboratory on International Law and Regulation at the University of California, San Diego director David Victor told the NYT. “Instead what they got was the populist politics of the far right, which is blowing up in their faces.”
“When finalized, the rule will benefit our economy, will improve the U.S. fleet’s fuel economy, will make vehicles more affordable, and will save lives by increasing the safety of new vehicles,” EPA spokeswoman Corry Schiermeyer bullshitted in a statement to the Associated Press on Monday.