EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt on Monday formally scrapped a key piece of the Obama administration’s fuel-efficiency standards for cars and light-duty trucks, throwing the future of the program into doubt.
In a statement, Mr. Pruitt said the program, known as the Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE standards, fell victim to politics during the final days of the Obama administration.
He said his predecessors at the EPA rushed through rules governing fuel economy for model years 2022 through 2025, and that those rules simply aren’t realistic.
“The Obama Administration’s determination was wrong,” he said. “Obama’s EPA cut the midterm evaluation process short with politically charged expediency, made assumptions about the standards that didn’t comport with reality, and set the standards too high.”
The decision marks a major turning point in how the federal government handles fuel efficiency and cuts apart what had been one of the most influential pieces of environmental rulemaking undertaken during the Obama presidency.
Under the rules, fleet-wide vehicle averages would’ve had to hit about 50 miles per gallon by 2025.
Mr. Pruitt also said he’ll begin working with the Transportation Department to develop more “appropriate” rules for 2022 to 2025, though it’s unclear exactly what those rules might look like.
The move also sets up a showdown between the federal government and California, which has authority to set its own fuel-efficiency rules and has said it won’t relax its standards, despite what the Trump administration does.
In response, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers said Mr. Pruitt’s move was the right one and that the federal government must ensure vehicles remain affordable.
“Consumer research shows that the monthly payment is the top concern when car-shopping. So, to ensure ongoing fuel economy improvement, the wisest course of action is to keep new vehicles affordable so more consumers can replace an older car with a new vehicle that uses much less fuel — and offers more safety features,” the group said in a statement.
Read more at Washington Times
And BTW, a Northern man don’t need him around, anyways.
Sorry, Neil, I traded your biography for a ZZ Top key fob.
Then there is this…
According to the Brookings Institution, a 500-lb weight reduction of the average car increased annual highway fatalities by 2,200-3,900 and serious injuries by 11,000 and 19,500 per year. USA Today found that 7,700 deaths occurred for every mile per gallon gained in fuel economy standards. Smaller cars accounted for up to 12,144 deaths in 1997, 37% of all vehicle fatalities for that year. The National Academy of Sciences found that smaller, lighter vehicles “probably resulted in an additional 1,300 to 2,600 traffic fatalities in 1993.” The National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration study demonstrated that reducing a vehicle’s weight by only one hundred pounds increased the fatality rate by as much as 5.63% for light cars, 4.70% for heavier cars, and 3.06% for light trucks. These rates translated into additional traffic fatalities of 13,608 for light cars, 10,884 for heavier cars, and 14,705 for light trucks between 1996 and 1999.
That’s a good reason to drive a land yacht. No one wants the epitaph “Died in a Neon” .
Crazy Horse Neil Young tried to turn an old Lincoln into a enviro mentally friendly (recycle!) LincVolt. Filled it full of lead-acid batteries and ethanol and drove through Alberta to an oil sands protest. The batteries died and when his tank ran out of moonshine he blamed Alberta!
Dumped his long-suffering wife for helium – head Darryl Hannah. California can keep him.
Obama was trying to legislate electric cars into every driveway. Where would all that power come from? Battery chargers would be busy at night, when solar and wind take a break.
So-called “efficiency standards” are INSANE! … how stupid!
Liberals/Democrats always want more regulations restrictions and mountains of paperwork for average Joe or Josephine Pruitt is just making it more easy for land owners without all the idiotic rules and regulations made by some pencil pusher sitting in some fancy little office in New York or Washington D.C.