#fuel efficiency standards

[alicemccombs]

Trump says he will repeal Biden-era fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks

Move marks president’s latest effort to dismantle pollution regulations and support for cleaner-running vehicles

[filosofablogger]

Snarky Snippets ... Back On Track

Snarky Snippets … Back On Track

Whatever would I make of this blog if I didn’t have Trump and his band of thugs to write about?  Hmmmm … I might have to go back to reading whole books and writing book reviews, or perhaps shut the blog down and go back to knitting scarves and afghans for my friends (yes, I do know how to knit and used to spend many an evening so occupied.  A year or two ago, I gave my stash of yarn and supplies…

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[libamericaorg]

The EPA Just Hastened Extinction in the Midst of a Pandemic (Video)

Two year ago, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulators decreed they would no longer rigidly enforce emissions standards for cars and trucks, arguing the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan timeline is not appropriate and standards are “too high.”

While the nation presently tries to cope with the suffering, grief, and confusion the coronavirus is causing, the Trump administration is…

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[rjzimmerman]

White House presses automakers to back fuel-efficiency rollback

Automakers are pushing back against the Trump administration’s effort to freeze fuel efficiency standards for cars and light trucks – one of the president’s most ambitious efforts to overturn Obama’s environmental agenda.

Excerpt from this Washington Post story:

In two separate discussions in less than three weeks, according to several participants, the White House has urged major auto companies to endorse the administration’s plan to freeze fuel standards for cars and smaller pickup trucks between model years 2020 and 2026. But domestic and foreign automakers have continued to raise concerns about the proposal, dubbed the Safer Affordable Fuel Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles rule, because California and other states plan to require vehicles in their states to meet tighter emissions limits.

A White House official, who refused to speak on the record, said the administration expects to get broad support for its rule once it is finalized. Administration officials say that the nation needs to readjust the emissions targets because consumers prefer bigger and less fuel-efficient vehicles than regulators initially envisioned and that keeping them in place will spur Americans to drive older, less safe vehicles.

Both the administration and its critics agree the rollback will lead to higher greenhouse gas emissions linked to climate change. In a draft environmental assessment of the proposal, NHTSA projected that it and other policies would keep the world on an emissions trajectory that could raise global temperatures by 7 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century. A new analysis by the State Energy and Environmental Impact Center at New York University School of Law projects that, if finalized, the administration’s proposal would yield between 16 million and 37 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by 2025, equivalent to the annual emissions of more than 9 million vehicles.

Fiat Chrysler expressed support for the administration’s proposal at the Friday meeting, according to two individuals who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk on the record. GM and Ford officials were less committal.

The Auto Alliance, whose members produce more than 70 percent of cars and light-duty trucks in the United States, has continued to voice concerns about the administration’s approach. Auto Alliance spokeswoman Gloria Bergquist said in an interview Thursday that the group supports “year-over-year increases in fuel economy” and a nationwide standard that includes California and its affiliated states. Any regulation that fails to achieve that, she said, would lead to litigation and force firms to sell a different mix of vehicles in parts of the country.

[papundits]

Trump Administration’s Fuel Economy Proposal Bucks California In Bid To Spur New Car Purchases

Trump Administration’s Fuel Economy Proposal Bucks California In Bid To Spur New Car Purchases

By Kevin Mooney ~

American consumers who want safe, affordable vehicles will find new models with improved technology becoming less costly if a federal rule amending standards for fuel economy and emissions goes into effect, Trump administration officials said Thursday in announcing the proposal.

California has been permitted to set its own auto emissions standards under a federal waiver. But…

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[rjzimmerman]

How the Carmakers Trumped Themselves

Automakers wanted rule changes. But not, they say, these rule changes.

I like this quote from the article: “It’s sort of a case where the dog actually caught the bus,” Gillis told me. “Now what’s it going to do?”

That’s the story here. The auto industry was bailed out during the Obama administration. Part of the consideration for the bail-out was to improve fuel efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Then the memory of the financial crisis faded, and trump came along. The auto industry trade associations decided it was time to show their cojones and ask for relaxed standards. But they failed to realize that pruitt is an idiot and the trump and republican anti-regulatory fever meant they were going to get more than they asked for, including getting bit by the rabid dogs, and they suddenly realized, Uh-oh, we are fucking ourselves over. The next administration will arrive, perhaps more progressive, perhaps Democrats, and oh shit.................

Excerpt:

The carmakers are stuck with Trump—and I’m not sure they realized it would go like this. At the beginning of the administration, it was possible for certain aspects of corporate America to squint and tell themselves that they were getting a normal Republican administration. They seemed to think that they could bring their stridently phrased concerns to the EPA and get the rule changed—but changed in such a way that the public would not take notice. But this administration is so motivated by anti-regulatory fervor, so automatically against whatever Obama did, that they instead found themselves fighting off a rule change larger than they ever anticipated.

And that could harm the automakers down the road—because they are not the only groups who hate cafe. Environmentalists defend the cafe rules now mostly because they’re better than no rules at all. But climate groups also thought cafe’s mechanisms—and its “footprint” auto-adjustment especially—represented a kind of compromise with the industry. If carmakers and the Trump administration fillet the rules, then future Democrats will have little reason to concede ground to them. Lawmakers could come up with a scheme that lowers carbon pollution more efficiently: by implementing an economy-wide carbon tax, or by compensating consumers if they bought smaller cars.

[papundits]

EPA Revision Of Obama-Era Fuel Standards Will Make New Cars More Affordable

EPA Revision Of Obama-Era Fuel Standards Will Make New Cars More Affordable

By Nicolas Loris ~ In a victory for American families and consumer choice, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has announced the agency will be revising aggressive fuel economy standards set in place by the Obama administration. Working with the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the EPA will revise efficiency standards for cars…

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[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt:

Today (January 13, 2017), the Environmental Protection Agency finalized its proposed decision on fuel efficiency standards, originally set by the Obama administration in 2012. The decision keeps the fuel economy goals at their current level through year 2025. These standards will reduce climate pollution by as much as 6 billion metric tons over the lifetimes of the vehicles sold in model years 2012-2025—the equivalent to carbon pollution from 150 typical coal-fired power plants for an entire year.

From the EPA News Release:

“My decision today rests on the technical record created by over eight years of research, hundreds of published reports including an independent review by the National Academy of Sciences, hundreds of stakeholder meetings, and multiple opportunities for the public and the industry to provide input,”  said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy.  “At every step in the process the analysis has shown that the greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and light trucks remain affordable and effective through 2025, and will save American drivers billions of dollars at the pump while protecting our health and the environment.”

The standards are projected to result in average fleet-wide consumer fuel economy sticker values of 36 miles per gallon (mpg) by model year 2025, 10 mpg higher than the current fleet average.  Since the first year of the GHG standards, manufacturers have been developing and adopting fuel economy technologies at unprecedented rates.  At the same time, the American car industry has been thriving.  Since 2010, the industry has had seven consecutive years of sales growth, with 2016 setting a record high for vehicle sales. The Administrator is retaining the current standards to provide regulatory certainty for the auto industry despite a technical record that suggests the standards could be made more stringent.