Energy Briefs: The undermining of the fight against climate change
Editor’s Note: Energy Briefs is a weekly recap of local, regional and national news regarding some of the most intriguing updates regarding energy, water and the environment.
The Environmental Protection Agency is continuing to seek options to continue to soften some of the previously adopted rules and regulations, as reported by E&E News last week.
Among the agency’s current targets is the Clean Power Plan. The plan finalized during the Obama administration but has yet to go into effect due to legal challenges. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is seeking to omit any research or studies that use data that is not publically available.
The rule would limit the use of some large and significant studies, where data has been kept private to protect confidentiality. It is not uncommon for studies to use private data or for third-party research firms, with whom the EPA contracts, not to reveal the participants.
If Pruitt’s plan moves forward, multiple studies that address the risk of air pollution wouldn’t be used, which would alter calculated benefits of implementing the Clean Power Plan. In 2016, the agency estimated the plan would help prevent 3,600 premature deaths, and 90,000 asthma attacks.
A former EPA official and current director of Harvard Law School’s Environmental Law Program told E&E News the proposed rule was targeted at specific studies that were instrumental in setting particulate matter standards.
“Essentially, you have a constituency that don’t like certain results, and so they are sort of back-engineering to find a way to defeat the results,” Goffman told E&E News.
Fuel Efficiency
A development that many anticipated for more than a year has been finally made official on Monday, as EPA has announced plans to rescind the fuel efficiency standards set under Barack Obama’s administration.
The goals set by the previous administration was for passenger cars and SUV’s to reach a 55 miles per gallon fuel efficiency by 2025. According to the Los Angeles Times, the 55 miles per gallon target is based on outdated testing methods, and the accepted new target car manufacturers would have to comply with is closer to 44 miles per gallon.
Pruitt said on a press release that the fuel-standard goals are too strict and stated the agency will come up with a new standard that will be announced in coming days.
Perhaps the most important development is that Pruitt wants to take away California’s ability to set its own fuel-efficiency standards. This is expected to be challenged in the courts.
California has been writing its own clean-air regulations since the 1970s as part of the state’s efforts to decrease smog. The federal government, California and most of the car manufacturers reached an agreement to enact the high fuel efficiency standards as part of the Clean Air Act of 2011.
“Cooperative federalism doesn’t mean that one state can dictate standards for the rest of the country,” Pruitt said in a statement. “EPA will set a national standard for greenhouse gas emissions that allows auto manufacturers to make cars that people both want and can afford... It’s in everyone’s best interest to have a national standard, and we look forward to working with all states, including California, as we work to finalize that standard.”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein criticized EPA’s announcement and the auto industry’s flip on an effort it previously supported.
“The years of litigation and investment uncertainty will be far harder on the auto industry than simply living up to the fuel economy standards they once embraced,” said Feinstein, in a statement. “The EPA is willfully ignoring the fact that these emission standards are working. Cars are becoming more fuel efficient and consumers are saving money at the pump…. Right now, car manufacturers are on target to exceed 40 mpg by 2020 and 50 mpg by 2025. There simply is no reason to roll back that progress.”
A coalition consisting of governors from California, Oregon and Washington in addition to the mayors of Los Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle released a statement expressing their opposition. The coalition argues strong fuel standards help people by improving air quality, save money at the pump and allow the country to lead the way in the clean transportation market.
“This move sets us back from years of advancements by the automotive industry put in motion by states that took the lead in setting emission standards. These standards have cleared the haze and smog from our cities and reversed decades of chronic air pollution problems,” the Pacific Coast Collaborative stated.
“Our job as governors and mayors is to boost our region’s economic opportunities and to make our cities and states cleaner and healthier for our residents and businesses. This decision does the exact opposite, making America more dependent on oil while putting more lives at risk from pollution and shortchanging consumers at the pump.”