Donald Trump will on Wednesday begin the process of rolling back carbon pollution standards for vehicles at a meeting with automakers in Detroit, Michigan.
Trump is set to direct the Environmental Protection Agency to review fuel efficiency standards that were a key plank of Barack Obama’s effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The move is a victory for carmakers who have claimed the standards are too onerous and out of step with Americans’ car buying habits.
In an agreement struck with automakers in 2012, the Obama administration required that cars run 54.4 miles per gallon of fuel by 2025. This standard, up from 27.5 miles per gallon, would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 6bn tons over the lifetime of new vehicles and save 2m gallons of oil per day by 2025.
In the final month of Obama’s presidency, the EPA affirmed in a midterm review that automakers are “well positioned” to meet the new standard. Trump is ordering a review of this finding, opening the way for a weaker standard to be drawn up.
A White House official said the automakers feel the EPA “shoved it down their throats” and that the standards needed to be redone.
“The process was very short-circuited,” said the Trump official, who spoke anonymously before the president’s announcement. “There was a lot of data that was submitted, and I think it is fair to say the Obama EPA just ignored it.”
Trump will unveil the review at an event in Detroit where he will meet with executives from companies, including General Motors, Ford and Fiat. Sean Spicer, Trump’s press secretary, said on Monday the trip would highlight “burdensome regulations that needlessly hinder meaningful job growth”.
Former EPA officials and environmental groups have decried the reversal, pointing out that carmakers had previously complained about fuel efficiency standards only to easily meet the requirements due to the evolution of technology. There are already more than 100 car and SUV models that meet standards that stretch beyond 2020, with the Chevrolet Volt, Toyota Prius, Chevrolet Spark and Smart ForTwo already matching the 2025 standard.
American drivers are also set to lose out, with the Obama rules forecast to save an average of $8,000 on gasoline costs for a new car.
“We need to put clean car standards in the fast lane to keep our air clean and our climate safe,” said Michael Brune, executive director of environmental group, the Sierra Club. “Donald Trump and the automakers are endangering the health of our children and families by abolishing lifesaving vehicle emissions protections that cut down on dangerous smog pollution and asthma attacks.”
Kristin Igusky, climate program associate at the World Resources Institute, added: “There’s no doubt that the current standards are reasonable and achievable. In fact, the industry as a whole has surpassed the vehicle standards in each of the last four years, while creating jobs and selling more vehicles than ever.”
Carmakers welcomed the review. Mitch Bainwol, president and chief executive of trade lobby group, Auto Alliance, said: “By restarting this review, analysis rather than politics will produce a final decision.”
Trump’s rolling back of fuel efficiency standards is set to be followed by further actions to dismantle climate policies enacted by Obama. The administration is set to lift a moratorium on coalmining on federal land and start to unpick various climate rules, including the Clean Power Plan, which imposes emissions limits on the states.
Trump is also mulling whether to withdraw the US from the Paris climate accord. On Wednesday, an alliance of 1,000 US companies took out ads in Washington DC publications to urge Trump to stay in the deal and work towards a low-carbon economy.
The group, which includes Mars, General Mills and Ikea, warned that “failure to tackle climate change could put America’s economic prosperity at risk”.
(TheGuardian US)
The new President should explain what he doesn’t like about the Emissions or Carbon pollution standards implemented by the former president.
Rolling back everything that the Previous President has already resolved appears to be vindictive.
Why can’t the new President focus on new areas of his own and the economy towards creating more jobs.
This seems to be too petty as he is carried away and too tied up with the Ex-Presidents accomplishments.