“The Trump
Administration is revoking California’s Federal Waiver on emissions in order to
produce far less expensive cars for the consumer, while at the same time making
the cars substantially SAFER,” Trump tweeted Wednesday morning, noting that the
move will lead to “older, highly polluting cars” being replaced by “new,
extremely environmentally friendly cars.”
The widely anticipated
move arises as the White House is also preparing to roll back the rigid Corporate
Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, president Barack Obama set. Using its power to
set emission objectives, California had set even tougher requirements that
effectively needed the automotive industry to start rolling out zero-emission
vehicle fleets, including plug-in hybrids, pure battery-electric vehicles, and
hydrogen-powered vehicles.
California has already
made legal attempts to prevent such a move and has been joined by other states
that have taken on more stringent orders from California.
“There will be very
little difference in emissions between the California Standard and the new U.S.
Standard, but the cars will be far safer and much less expensive.” Trump wrote.
“Many more cars will be produced under the new and uniform standard, meaning significantly
more JOBS, JOBS, JOBS! Automakers should seize this opportunity because without
this alternative to California, you will be out of business.”
Originally, California
was given power to set tougher norms as a recognition of bad air quality in
towns like Los Angeles. Responding to reports that the White House was
preparing to follow through on plans to eliminate that waiver, California
Governor Gavin Newsom issued a statement warning the move “could have
devastating consequences for our kids’ health and the air we breathe, if
California were to roll over.”
the administration is
engaged in a “witch hunt against California and carmakers,” said the Union of
Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit advocacy group, picking up a phrase that
Trump often applied to the Mueller investigation into possible collusion with
the Russians.
The Justice Department
announced earlier this month an antitrust investigation into the agreement
reached with California authorities by four vehicle manufacturers — Ford, VW,
Honda and BMW — that would have them adhere to more stringent emission and
mileage norms than the Trump administration is expected to set under the
amended CAFE directive.
The president directly
attacked the July deal with California, issuing a tweet that said, “Henry Ford
would be very disappointed if he saw his modern-day descendants wanting to build
a much more expensive car that is far less safe and doesn’t work as well,
because execs don’t want to fight California regulators.”
The Environmental
Protection Agency, one of the two agencies charged with regulating federal
mileage standards, initially derided the agreement between the automakers and
the California Air Resources Board as a “PR stunt.”
On Tuesday, EPA
spokesman Michael Abboud criticized it again, insisting it “does nothing to
further the one national standard that will provide certainty and relief for
American consumers.” Abboud also claimed that California regulators
“continually refused” to work with the White House to reach a “common sense
solution.”
The debate over the
current federal fuel economy standards dates back to well before the 2016
elections. While the auto industry reached a compromise early on with the Obama
administration setting a target of 54.5 miles per gallon for 2025, the deal called
for a “mid-term review” that would explore whether the target remained
feasible. With the rapid shift from passenger cars to less fuel-efficient
pickups and utility vehicles, a number of automakers began pressing for a
rollback, a request the outgoing administration rejected.
Initially, some of
those manufacturers supported the Trump administration’s plan to stage its own
analysis. But the preliminary revision jointly revealed by the EPA and the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last year went well beyond what
was expected, and received little industry support.
In June, 17 automakers
sent a letter to the White House urging the White House not to pull back as far
as had been proposed on CAFE.
A number of surveys,
including one by the non-profit Consumers Union, have found strong public
support for increased fuel economy goals. In recent days, administration
sources have indicated that the final CAFE revisions will see less of a
rollback than as outlined in 2018.
“While the White House
clings to the past, automakers and American families embrace cleaner cars. The
evidence is irrefutable: today’s clean car standards are achievable,
science-based, and a boon for hardworking American families and public health,”
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement Tuesday.
While the industry has
shown support for mileage increases, a number of carmakers are more supportive
of eliminating the California waiver, arguing that there should just be one
fuel economy and auto emissions target nationwide. The agreement the four
automakers struck with California in July saw the state compromise, but only
slightly. The deal would essentially see the Obama-era emissions and mileage
rules pushed back by just one year.
Norb
Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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