Climate-change efforts gutted by U.S. rollback of mileage standards
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration rolled back ambitious Obama-era vehicle mileage standards Tuesday, raising the ceiling on damaging fossil-fuel emissions for years to come and gutting one of the U.S.’s biggest efforts against climate change.
The Trump administration released a final rule Tuesday on mileage standards through 2026. The change — after two years of Trump threatening and fighting states and a faction of automakers that opposed the move — waters down a tough Obama mileage standard that would have encouraged automakers to ramp up production of electric vehicles and more fuel-efficient gas and diesel vehicles.
“We are delivering on President Trump’s promise to correct the current fuel-economy and greenhouse-gas emissions standards,” Andrew Wheeler, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, said in a statement on Tuesday.
He said the final rule “puts in place a sensible” national program that “strikes the right regulatory balance that protects our environment, and sets reasonable targets for the auto industry. This rule supports our economy, and the safety of American families.”
Opponents contend the change — gutting his predecessor’s legacy effort against climate-changing fossil-fuel emissions — appears to be driven by Trump’s push to undo regulatory initiatives of former president Barack Obama and say even the administration has had difficulty pointing to the kind of specific, demonstrable benefits to drivers, public health and safety or the economy that normally accompany standards changes.
The Trump administration says the looser mileage standards will allow consumers to keep buying the less fuel-efficient SUVs that U.S. drivers have favoured for years. Opponents say it will kill several hundred more Americans a year through dirtier air, compared with the Obama standards.
Even “given the catastrophe they’re in with the coronavirus, they’re pursuing a policy that’s going to hurt public health and kill people,” said Chet France, a former 39-year veteran of the Environmental Protection Agency, where he served as a senior official over emissions and mileage standards.
“This is first time that an administration has pursued a policy that will net negative benefit for society and reduce fuel savings,” France said.
Delaware Sen. Tom Carper, the senior Democrat on the Senate environmental and public works committee, called it “the height of irresponsibility for this administration to finalize a rollback that will lead to dirtier air while our country is working around the clock to respond to a respiratory pandemic whose effects might be exacerbated by air pollution.”
The standards have split the auto industry, with Ford, BMW, Honda and Volkswagen agreeing to higher standards. Most other automakers contend the Obamaera standards were enacted hastily and will be impossible to meet because consumers have shifted dramatically away from efficient cars to SUVs and trucks.