“Many companies have told us — more than one or two — that they would sign up to the agreement as soon as they felt free to do so,” said Mary Nichols, the top clean air official in California."
Free to do so ? Toyota (#2 in global auto manufacturing) will not stop improving their cars to meet the Obama rules. GM knows that it also must not fall behind their competitors. This is another stupid Trump idea like trying to hold China back from becoming the global tech leader by sanctions & tariffs. The tide is coming in and standing on the shore & shouting at it is Trump-GOP silliness. Get rid of the GOP & start investing in education to improve the USA`s 20th position in STEM education.
10
Remember this and all of the other actions of this inept, insecure, illegitimate Oval Office occupant.
His major motivation for making pollution causing change is to reverse whatever President Obama created.
If he is unsuccessful with this change he will still try to make it illegal for states to enact their own positive laws. Sound analogous to when the national sports stars turn down coming to the White House i.e. he claims they are uninvited so he can look like he has won.
Remember these actions and VOTE THEM OUT in 2020.
33
Trump’s childish hatred for Obama is only part of the motivation behind his undoing of all of Obama’s policies. Perhaps even more potent is the fact that the #1 dark money benefactor of the GOP are the Koch brothers, who amassed their fortune in the fossil fuel industry. It’s because of the Kochs that 45 pulled out of the Paris Climate Agreement, and we don’t have a cap-and-trade policy, and the public is fed anti-science disinformation about climate change. Follow the (dark) money.
23
This maneuvering is a micro view of everything Trump and the Republicans are all about. Undo everything President Obama accomplished, because he was black, liberal and intelligent. Refute the absolute science of climate change and its causes. Do everything to prioritize the industries of coal and oil. Work to stop the forward and obvious future of US and world automakers. Try to undermine the largest and most influential state within the union that you are supposedly the president of just for spite. Lie to Americans and pretend that Republican obstructionist efforts are to” protect us from being forced to buy expensive vehicles that we don’t want or need.” As if we are forced to buy anything of the sort. Claim to be looking for a deregulatory win for automakers to keep their prices down, when in fact automakers are far along in making vehicles that conform to the 2012 regulations. All of these lies can be applied to every action by this administration.
Trump is a vindictive, small minded loser and coward. The Republican Party adores him. Vote them all out in 2020. Hopefully the country can survive until then.
33
I have nothing substantive to add except that this policy change makes me (an environmentalist) incredibly angry. But I guess that’s exactly why Downer Don is doing it.
10
Keep in mind the Ice Cap on Greenland is melting 6X faster than it ever since the '60s.
Keep in mind it was hotter in the 1930's.
Keep in mind it's snowing in Australia.
Keep mind China is the biggest producer of electric cars in the world. Soon they will be dumping them here. Sell your shares in Tesla.
Keep in mind the Chinese produced and sold over 1M electric motor scooters which could have been gas.
Keep in mind Trump wants to open a trillion dollar Alaskan copper and gold mine Obama said no to. Cheap copper means cheap electric cars.
Keep in mind there's 1600 coal fired power plants slated for construction around the world.
Keep in mind not selling coal to those who need it might some day be an act of war.
3
I wondered why the Koch Brothers disappeared over the last couple of years. They have gone underground while continuing their reign of terror. The most important fact in the article is the figure an additional 320 BILLION gallons of gasoline. Koch Industries controls the process which converts crude oil to gasoline at every refinery serving the USA. 320 BILLION gallons converts into billions of extra riches for these lowlifes.
20
this guy truly wants to burn the planet down. he must know something we don't when he was signed in.
6
OK, NYT Readers, here's what YOU can do:
The contact information for each of these car makers is as follows:
Toyota: www.toyota.com/support/#!/app/ask
Fiat Chrysler: [email protected]
General Motors: [email protected]
Each of their websites say the companies are "all in" for environmental protection and sustainability, and they are serious. They're going to continue to move forward implementing the Obama Administration emissions standards as they've already passed the point of no return.
But it will help if they know the public is behind them. Here's my message to them. Feel free to cut-and-paste.
Dear Sir or Madam,
I strongly urge you to continue your plans to implement the emissions standards set by the Obama Administration in 2012. I believe this is in the best interests of your company, your customers, and our increasingly fragile planet.
Respectfully, - (your name)
27
Trump may be a foreign alien that doesn't breath air or drink water. Any other sensible human being would care about the air they breathe and the water they drink
14
Relaxing fuel efficiency standards will result in a transfer of wealth from American consumers to Vladimir Putin.
2
Once again, Trump is throwing a tantrum a two year old would be proud of. What else to do when states like California go against what you want? And how else to try and erase that last president (the one who actually had a brain)? Scream loudly and threaten everyone in sight. Death and destruction. The long term doesn't matter as long as you get what you want. Welcome to America.
Time to get out and vote.
13
"Mr. Trump, described by three people as enraged by California’s deal... " A megalomaniac in the White House bodes ill for the nation's future.
11
Everything about the Trump Administration "...Shows Signs of Disarray".
The shambolic, chaotic trade policy of Navarro and Ross.
The shameful immigration concentration camps of Miller.
The murderous defense of NRA assault weapon carnage.
This amateurish assault on the EPA to advance climate change.
Is there anything, coming from Trump, or his incompetent acolytes, that is not the personification of "disarray"?
13
Boycott Toyota, GM & Fiat-Chrysler!
5
Only Trump would seek to actively make car emissions worse! It’s like giving people a tax break if they use more fertilizer on their lawns. Or like selling more plastic straws... oh wait, he’s doing that too.
15
Pssssst .... the Amazon is on fire. Feel free to mention that.
6
No wonder trump went bankrupt.
Six times
Why would any legit business, having spent decades trying to “go greener” abandon all that work on the whim of an inexperienced blowhard with no mandate, and who may not make it tons 2nd term .
21
So why is trump trying to punish one of the more productive and innovative states in the US? Talk about shooting off your own feet!
11
I favor a national boycott against any automakers who side with Trump and against our lungs, our children's and grandchildren's lungs. We must oppose those who poison us all.
21
I'm about to choose Honda's CR-V over Toyota's RAV-4 (which I like a bit better) because of Honda's environmentally responsible decision to join the CA agreement.
16
However you can get a RAV4 hybrid,... which would use less fuel and would be more environmentally responsible, so there's that
2
Savor this moment. You might expect the automakers to take shelter behind the protection of this bizarre GOP and its gargoyle in the White House. Instead they're recognizing that the Republicans and Trump are terrible capitalists seeking to drive waste back into an economy that is eradicating it from every supply chain.
9
why would a president, whose role is to lead the entire country, seek to "retaliate" against a state? He's not trying to bring the state in line with the federal government's goal, but he actually wants to retaliate, as in to cause gratuitous suffering or damage to the people of a particular state, whose only infraction is to hold car companies to a higher standard in order to improve the quality of life of its citizens.
what a selfish wanna be mafia don
15
I havw come to believe I'm actually a background character in a work of political satire. Unfortunately, it's badly written, poorly plotted, totally unbelievable,and not the least bit amusing.
7
Obama's rules save consumers money overall by cutting their fuel costs. Consumers should be angry at Trump for trying to force them to give their $$ to the oil companies. This is clearly lobbying by big oil. Maybe we should reward the oil companies by buying electric vehicles right away!
13
National Drive Electric Week is September 14th - 22nd. There are hundreds of EV events around the country in which EV owners will gather to talk about and offer rides in their cars. Here in Fort Myers, FL, there will be such an event at the Edison Ford Winter Estates linking the innovative thinking of the past to that of the present. Find an event near you and check out some EVs. My plug-in hybrid is hands down the most satisfying car purchase I've made in 42 years of ownership: super low greenhouse gas emissions, 133mpg over 6,400 miles (a savings of $3,750 over the first five years) and just over 19K with the federal tax credit and before taxes.
5
Two astounding facts from this article:
Trump is dictating business practices to huge corporations. For someone who hates too many regulations and government interference, this is an odd position to take. He alone will decide the emissions standards.
The fact this policy is now being handled by a 29 year old intern with no experience.
Both are extraordinary, but so typically Trumpian.
14
From one distraction to another. These changes will never be approved/implemented.
1
With the rollback, the US will burn an additional 320 billion gallons of gas, the article says. Can someone explain what that means in terms of campaign donations to Republicans from the oil industry?
3
Canada also signed on, which is like adding another California. And Trump can't do anything about it.
7
"Trump’s Rollback of Auto Pollution Rules Shows Signs of Disarray"
Trump's (fill in the blank) Shows Signs of Disarray.
2
Thank God for those 21 young whippersnappers (Juliana vs. USA) working their case thru the courts. Now we have to pray, hope, support, whatever your mojo is, that Resident tRump And Mitch don’t have a chance to change the court majority even further.
1
A 29 year old, from the Pence staff? What could possibly go wrong? Good lord, Idiocracy happening way too soon.
8
Boy, how many times has a career employee in the federal government said to themselves:
[FEDERAL AGENCY] is struggling to assemble a coherent technical and scientific analysis required by law to implement a rule change of this scope.
Toyota better get on board or after owning a 1976 Celica, 1985 SR5 Extended Cab, 1990 Corolla wagon, 2002 RAV4, and a 2011 RAV4, I might look elsewhere when buying my next vehicle!
4
...because it was Obama.
Trump will try to undercut Obama at any chance he can get. "It's a total disaster...." and so it goes.
Now you have California, the 5th largest economy in the world. Yes, the world who is thumbing their nose at Trump and his mouthy clones.
The auto companies are not managed by twits. they're pragmatic and know Trump is a short timer and re-tooling is expensive.
Plus, the consumers demand cleaner and more efficient cars.
Thank you President Obama.
Thank you California.
Thank you common sense.
9
In other news, the WH gathered cigarette company CEOs last week insisting they remove all the filters from their cigarettes claiming it will save consumers money by reducing prices and streamlining manufacturing processes.
5
This is not rocket science. They want to sell cars. Consequently, because the consumer demands fuel-efficiency, they have no choice but to compete. They are not environmentalists, but that is simply a positive by product of their pragmatism.
3
I was in Havana, Cuba last winter. A main attraction is the 1950's vintage cars. Very cute except when you get a whiff of the exhaust. I haven't smelled anything that overwhelming in probably 60 years. Many cars in Cuba lack emission control devices and its a national health hazard. It was a reminder of what could be if emission standards are rolled back.
14
The auto manufacturers need to know the rules in advance that way they can play the system. VW lied and got caught. As cars are tested today there's ways to bend the rules.
Six cylinder engines are being replaced by 4 cylinder engines with turbo charges. When a 4 cylinder engine with a turbo charger cruises, the turbo charger isn't used so it get good fuel economy and emissions. That's how they are tested. Cars are not tested for real world use.
The problem is when people drive they want a 6 cylinder's power. The turbo 4 delivers that power when the turbo charger is in use, but with a lot poorer fuel economy and emissions. In other words a 4 cylinder with a turbo charger needs almost as much fuel to produce the same amount of performance as a 6 cylinder. More fuel means more pollution. I'm over simplifying, I know.
I, for one, will be keeping a close eye on which manufacturers join California and which don't. I will be in the market for two new cars in the foreseeable future. Not only will they be hybrid or all electric, they will be from auto companies that join in the pact with California. The entire world will be demanding vehicles that don't contribute as much to global warming. This is a fact that auto companies will have to deal with. It's not just about us. The LOSER Trump will just have to deal with it.
12
Sorry to see that Subaru is not on this list (I scanned it quickly, but I didn't see the name).
I drive one now but won't buy another. No part of the auto industry should be rolling back emissions standards. It's absolutely unethical.
18
I, too, have a Subaru and really like it -- enough to duplicate it when the time comes. That is, IF they pay attention to emissions and other reasonable standards.
5
I have a 2019 Honda Accord. Very small engine 1.5 litre, but has turbo, great acceleration, 33-38 mpg. Only costs 23K. Why buy a $50 K gas hog pick up and buy gas 3 times more than you could with a nice sedan? Being pro-environment with your vehichle choice is the way to go.
14
I'm in the market for a new car, and will only consider those whose companies are standing with California.
22
There is a very strong and scientific argument for what the President is trying to do: they were rules enacted by the Obama administration. Reading about all these policies makes me feel that we are inside an Austin Powers movie and Dr. Evil somehow got elected to the White House. None of his policies or actions make any sense, and it just seems to be trying to destroy everything, just because.
18
"That means the process is now being run by Francis Brooke, a 29-year-old White House aide with limited experience in climate change policy before moving over from Vice President Mike Pence’s office last year."
In a story filled with lots of head-scratchers, this definitely stood out. In what universe does this make sense or is alright?
I hope California and he auto makers are successful in implementing this, because the alternative is too bizarre to fathom.
23
Aggressive ignorance goes hand in hand with active opposition to the job you were hired to do in Trumpland. I would fully expect them to come up with a rule mandating all cars increase emission levels to, say, 1970 levels — basically, whatever is the worst thing they can do, that’s their goal.
1
I'm not surprised, but still glad to see my favorite brand support California's higher standards - I've always gotten Hondas, love their high standards in quality and environmental factors.
There's no imaginable reason, other than trying to destroy the environment, or bought and paid for by oil (hmmm, the low oil prices were hurting Russia.... wonder who else that is often linked with Trump also wants more oil demand...) or Putin that explains this attempt to force automakers to make worse cars.
15
I learned in high school that States can do better, but no worse than federal regulations; ie minimum wage. I guess Trump missed that day in school
21
Electric vehicles sound great, but where does all that electricity come from? It’s not free, after all. Surely, some from wind and solar, but most from what? Conventional power plants?
3
@Trombenik. Yes, mostly from conventional power plants (though in my case, my Chevy Volt is powered by my roof-mounted solar panels). However, even a coal-fired electric vehicle is generally better for the planet that a fully gas-powered vehicle. See here:
https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1121222_dont-worry-about-coal-electric-cars-are-still-cleaner
This is partly due to economies of scale, as a large centralized power plant can obtain much greater efficiencies than the comparatively tiny engine in individual cars.
21
@Trombenik
It's easier to make efficiency gains in 2000 power plants than in 20 million cars. So electricity is cleaner, not because of the source, but because of the scale.
9
@Trombenik
We've had solar panels for near 10 years, and they produce more than we consume. Happy if those electrons go to electric cars. Our system was initially supposed to cover 80% of our electric use to get us into the cheapest tier of electricity charges. But we quickly made our home more energy efficient and now send the surplus to the grid.
We've had a hybrid car longer than the panels and our next car will probably be all electric or a plug-in hybrid. Unfortunately, our next car purchase has had to be delayed due the Trump 'tax cut' which substantially upped our federal tax bill. Maybe we'll buy a car after a Democrat replaces Trump in 2021 and the Trump tax giveaway is reversed.
22
Cheap gas and lax performance standards have been a competitive disadvantage for US automakers for decades... At least a portion of the success of European and Japanese automakers in the US is directly attributable to these facts: their cars tend to be smaller, with more fuel efficient engines and less harmful emissions.
As a former CEO of one of the US' Big 3 observed, "...We (the car industry) support clean air and higher mileage targets... But it all about Big Oil..."
5
It takes a long time to engineer adjustments to fuel economy standards. The industry has made bets on them, and the president pulls the rug out from under the industry. I don't get it. Would someone explain why.
11
Easy. Follow the money.
2
When shopping for a new car this past Spring, I searched the auto magazines for reviews. I was surprised to learn that Toyota has lost the edge it once had in the opinion of reviewers. So, instead, I purchased a Honda. Now, reading that Toyota sides with Trump in his regressive push to weaken pollution rules, I'm even more pleased with my decision.
28
"The administration’s efforts to weaken the Obama-era pollution rules could be rendered irrelevant if too many automakers join California before the Trump plan can be put into effect. That could imperil one of Mr. Trump’s most far-reaching rollbacks of climate-change policies."
Trump's fossil fuels agenda thwarted? Gee, wouldn't that be a doggone shame.
26
Okay Fiat-Chrysler, I’m watching your next move. I need to replace my caravan in the next 2 years, and your decision matters!
16
@Norman Check out the Chrysler Pacifica Plug-In Hybrid
1
We're all just lucky Obama didn't come up with the name of the country, or that the sun rises in the east.
If he did, I'm sure Trump and his "fine people" would be trying to change that too.
34
"President Trump Is Staggeringly Ignorant When It Comes to Tariffs and the Trade Deficit"
"Donald Trump cannot even get the basics right. And while he continues to lead us down the destructive path of a trade war, he continues to raise the bar on his level of ignorance about tariffs. It’s stunning that a person with an economics degree from Wharton can think in such bumbling ways & can lead one to ask, “How much did Fred Trump pay for Donald’s degree?”
… Nothing good will come from Trump’s trade ignorance. As long as he believes a trade deficit represents, & invoice & tariffs get paid by the country hit with them & not American citizens, he’ll continue down this path. And all he’s going to do is destroy whatever economic benefit the country got from the tax cut package. Winning? Nope."
https://www.redstate.com/prevaila/2018/08/05/president-trump-staggeringly-ignorant-comes-tariffs-trade-deficit
Trump is profoundly ignorant on so many levels.
15
Reagan messed up gas efficiency way back when, and now here we are again.
14
What is "top-down" about California's initiative, dear White House Senior Advisor, is we have seven of the nation's top ten worst air-polluted cities in the nation, including the one I'm writing from. I have to use an inhaler to clear my lungs on some days, and I don't smoke.
11
In the SF Bay Area air quality is much better than it was. In the South Bay years ago it was really
bad. Has it not improved at all in the LA area?
1
@VPruitt I believe we were number 1 for a long time. Now we're number 7. SF-SJ-Oakland is No. 4. Full disclosure: I also cycle almost everywhere, so I inhale probably more dirty, particle-filled air than I should.
This could all be moot if consumers and automakers push forward with electric cars. I bought my first one recently and have already begun to see the savings in maintenance and fuel costs. With the tax incentive, a Chevy Bolt or Nissan Leaf Plus can take you over 200 miles per charge for less than 30k.
14
It would be helpful to show how California's limits tie in with other major car countries - Japan, China, Germany France and the UK. I suspect California's limits are consistent with where these other countries are or are heading. So there should not be much incremental cost for a California version of their cars.
12
"At one White House meeting, Mr. Trump went so far as to propose scrapping his own rollback plan and keeping the Obama regulations, while still revoking California’s legal authority to set its own standards, according to the three people familiar with the meeting. The president framed it as a way to retaliate against both California and the four automakers in California’s camp, those people said."
Let us all note that 'the good of the American people' was nowhere among his motives.
30
I bought a Tesla just to spite Trump and the Koch Brothers. And installed Solar on my roof. Feels great too.
43
Yes it does, and we have solar, a Leaf and a Volt. No going back.
17
@WATSON
Because you can afford it. Most people can't.
@JoeG
But if enough WATSONs make it a priority today, the rest of us can afford it tomorrow.
Most goods go through that cycle.
(Also, to point out: I leased an electric car last summer. I received significant rebates from the Feds, the state, my power company, and my employer, to chop off about 25% of the cost. If I had bought the car, that would have gone up to over 50% of the purchase price.)
2
They can stupidly roll back whatever they want, the only vehicles we're buying going forward are hybrids or electrics.
Why would anyone seek out fuel inefficient vehicles?
And over time, as the oil supply wanes (finite resource, remember?) gasoline is going to be very expensive.
20
This is another "wreck Obama" tactic from this petty administration which can only destroy...they never have a good plan beyond undoing the good work of the previous administration..and that bankruptcy is beginning to get very tedious.
We should have stayed in NAFTA, in the Pacific Group and with Obama care...now we have a trade war, more expensive and inaccessible health care. Tired of "winning" yet, America?
30
Day after day we see the bizarre cognitive processes of the president play out. This results in behavior that threatens our national security, is misanthropic, and in this case would add to the decline of the biosphere on which all life depends. By the way, include McConnell who enables this tyrant.
16
"Policy experts point out that Mr. Trump’s quest to undo his predecessor’s signature climate-change regulation despite opposition from the very industry being regulated is extraordinarily unusual."
Like we needed further evidence of Trump's Obama Derangement Syndrome...
12
Vote with your dollars. Support automobile manufacturers that support stricter environmental protection standards. Fuel efficiency will save you money. The only losers will be the oil companies...who put profits ahead of the planet.
8
It's insane that Trump demands that Detroit give us cars that burns more gas, the consequence of which will be more money spent by the consumer over the life of the car besides more CO2 soeeed into the atmosphere. This should be a winning campaign issue for the Democrats; nobody wants to go back to gas guzzlers!
17
As @Carolyn White noted, Trump's motivation includes wanting to "
Unish" those who stand up to his irrational edicts. This is just another example of his infantile behavior. Maybe we can send him to N. Korea for a "time out"! Maybe we should also have the automaker CEOs show the Republicans in Congress how to do the right thing.
4
It is all part of Trump's five year plan...
5
"While acknowledging that a major change such as this takes time, the official said that people who were opposed to the rule, including some in the automotive industry, were starting to worry that the Trump plan was going to succeed."
Following the boss with the lies...the blatant lies. Why would any rational (key word) voter believe anything this administration or its liar-in-chief says?
6
Given his history of countering any slight against him, isn't California's requirement of tax returns sufficient to trigger trump?
9
Everyday politics is the most potent.
Like, all those phony calls you get on your cell phone?
Lax enforcement by the the Trump administration because they get campaign $ paid off by those companies.
Democrats will fix it.
Or, how about this?
Democrats want you to get 55 miles to the gallon.
Trump is furious that auto makers would do that for you.
What!!
Who do you think wins on that everyday issue?
Hammer him with issues that hit Americans every day.
6
So Trump is enraged that some automakers are siding with California. Well I am beyond enraged with this petty unbalanced vindictive man who calls himself president. Obama might have made mistakes here and there but his heart and ethics were to improve the lives, health, and safety of the American people. Obama was a decent intelligent man. That description will never ever be used to describe Trump. I am so sick of him and his vindictive pettiness. What a disgraceful human being.
21
Volkswagen is one of the participating companies. Irony died a thousand deaths!
5
@Vick
As a former VW diesel owner (LOL), I believe VW's current involvement with electrics and fuel efficiency was in part mandated as part of their settlement with the Federal government (not the owners - the government). "Efficiency" already had been part of their marketing anyway, even with the diesels.
1
Being able to buy a “cheaper” car won’t be of much use if all the bees are dead and our planet becomes practically unlivable.
9
I have lately noticed that the NJ Turnpike has begun to smell noxious as you approach Manhattan — a roll back of Clean Air regulations ... just the way I remember (and hoped never to revisit, unlike Proust’s madeleines) from when I was a girl in the 70s and 80s.
Trump’s bumper sticker should read Make America Stinky Again.
11
It's hard to comprehend tump's ignorance.
From a CBS article in 2012 regarding the then new Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE regulations:
"The 54.5 mpg standard came from the Obama administration's quest to cut carbon dioxide emissions nearly in half by 2025. The gas mileage is what's needed to make that cut. Then there were negotiations between the Obama administration, automakers, environmentalists, California and union auto workers to come up with the final rules."
The rules are tough, but GM, the largest U.S. car company, will roll out features to comply, spokesman Greg Martin said at the time.
"Consumers want higher fuel efficiency in their cars and trucks, and GM is going to give it to them," he said.
The rules, issued jointly by the U.S. Dept. of Transportation and the EPA, require new cars and trucks to average 54.5 miles per gallon in combined city and highway driving by 2025, up from 28.6 mpg at the end of 2011.
The automakers agreed to the rules, which were to be phased in incrementally. They knew that the public wanted better mileage, less fuel costs, and more environmentally friendly cars. As do most foreign buyers.
Tump is apparently too ignorant to comprehend this. And again, this was negotiated back in 2011-2012.
Greed, ignorance and how can we damage the environment seem to be the only thing tump and the GOP consider worthwhile.
Hope all the auto makers stay with the initial agreement, & that California wins the inevitable court case.
11
I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. Honda or GM designs their cars and can make them as fuel efficient as they want to, within technical limitations, regardless of what the government says are "minimum" standards (be they federal or CA).
The writers of the article are not quite being forthright, nor are the car maker spokespersons. The reality is that the CA/Obama standards in the out-years are completely arbitrary and not technologically feasible while still permitting car makers to produce cars that Americans want to buy.
A car maker alliance with CA gives them the best of both worlds. They used the leverage of Trump's repeal of the Obama regs to get a better deal from CA, while still being able to virtue-signal their green bona fides, and they have to produce under similar restrictions for other countries anyway.
The Clean Air Act has always been based on a minimum federal standards, with states having the right to impose more stringent standards if they want to. If CA wants to make cars more expensive, smaller and less safe for their citizens in exchange for lower CO2 emissions, that is their choice and the feds don't actually have the right to stop them under current law.
2
@Zdebman
A correction: The majority of non polluting cars are significantly safer than the average dirty car and not more expensive when all environmental and health costs are taken in to account.
3
@Zdebman
Clean air for our children to breathe is not some whimsical left wing plot, as much as you might try to pretend otherwise.
15
@Zdebman
You do know that Trump would like to take away California's ability to impose more stringent standards, right? It's right in the article.
Obviously the auto manufacturers have the capability to do this. So they should.
3
I wonder what the price tag is for the Koch brothers and oil lobby to get the president to push for a policy that makes zero sense (aside from the environmental impact, this will end up costing consumers more in vehicle cost and fuel consumption). He's already a "billionaire". So what? $10 million? $50M? $100M?
8
"Trump’s Disarray shows signs of a Rollback of Auto Pollution Rules" might have been a better title to describe what has been happening.
3
Trump must be heavily invested in fossil fuels and related industries. He is trying to increase oil consumption as he denigrates Amazon which has likely helped reduce fuel consumption of consumers who now buy there and other mail order services utilizing energy efficient shipping. He's also trying to get my coal invention. He's pretty dangerous to say what I can. Trump is just another hostage of the fuels industry like all other politicians.
5
"The president framed it as a way to retaliate against both California and the four automakers in California’s camp, those people said."
That find sentence of the piece says everything anyone needs to know about the Trump administration. It's never about helping the consumer, or the worker, or any other average American. It's always about petty, juvenile revenge tactics just like the petty, juvenile person Trump is.
21
"The White House official called the staff departures irrelevant and said that the rule was near completion. While acknowledging that a major change such as this takes time, the official said that people who were opposed to the rule, including some in the automotive industry, were starting to worry that the Trump plan was going to succeed."
Repeat a lie often, and soon an alternative fact is born ; feed more lies and it grows up to be irrefutable truth. The MO of this administration.
9
Is it a coincidence that Trump is also pushing to expand areas for drilling for oil?
9
I will sell/trade in my current Toyota if Toyota doesn't agree to comply with CA's standards! Hooray to the automakers who will not comply.
14
Why go only part way? Get rid of your current non electric vehicles and replace them with new electric ones.
@Mon.-Thurs. Karin Oops ... Hooray to the automakers who WILL comply with CA's emissions standards.
1
The cruelty is the point. Not sure how to better summarize Trump's approach to governing. GOP, too.
14
Join me in my pact to purchase only new cars that live up to AT LEAST the Obama era standards. Every carmaker that doesn't comply with these standards will be out of business before long anyway.
17
Which CEO is enacting policies to follow Trump down the climate denial path (except for those privately owned like Koch) that wants to keep his/her job after this administration is gone given the overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Only those whose board of directors will sack soon thereafter.
2
If you care about the environment, support these four automakers in the CA agreement. Yep, I am ready to upgrade my vehicle, and that's a Honda for me.
11
Consider a Tesla model 3, fully electric and drives great in the snow!
1
The entire exercise represents just one more way Trump thinks he can stick it to Obama. There is no other reason for him to do this. It is certain that any carmakers who go along with his degradation of Obama’s environmental policies will be boycotted by enlightened consumers nationwide.
14
We are watching you, Toyota, Fiat Chrysler and General Motors, to see if you going to be on the side of sanity or going off the cliff with Trump.
14
President Warren should undo everything Trump has done. Oh, and lock him up.
14
I don't understand why the enormous health costs of auto pollution (paid by taxpayers) are never mentioned by reporters or even commenters here. The World Health Organization considers air pollution to be the single largest environmental danger to public health globally. A recent Australian study in NSW found Air pollution from motor vehicles kills over 1,700 Australians per year.
Shockingly, this loss of life is 60% higher than loss of life caused by motor vehicle crashes in the state!
They found that each internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV) creates average health costs of $7,110 over a ten-year lifetime, and they have cheap health care. Imagine what the cost is here.
For heaven's sake, drive electric and save lives and lower your taxes. It's more fun anyway.
9
"the process is now being helmed by Francis Brooke, a 29-year-old White House aide with limited experience in climate change policy". I feel sorry for the kid, his future is ruined. Leading this effort will be a millstone around his neck for the rest of his professional life. DJT doesn't care whose lives he ruins.
10
Trump loves nothing more than to roll back, derail and decimate any of Obama's signature legislations including those that affect banking, health care and the environment. He is a one man wrecking ball supported by corrupt and creepy advisors. When the very industries that he is trying to deregulate push back, he may want to reconsider his mad plan at world dominance and dystopian destruction.
7
Wait until this administration finds out that bicycling and walking require no fossil fuels,... they'll go insane!
16
It is only about Trump continuing to undo and destroy every aspect of Obama's legacy. Pure and simply. After undoing immigration, and healthcare, he's finally gotten around to this.
It's all payback for Obama's having ridiculed him at that Press dinner. Oh... and also his racism.
12
History will redeem Obama and all the policies Trump has erased, mostly out of ego and revenge for being humiliated by Obama and Seth Myers at the White House Correspondents dinner.
Trump doesn’t realize that the humiliation he and his family will receive during the following decades will, by comparison, make a few jokes about births risk and gold chandeliers look like loving compliments!
10
It is true, we have at most six more years of Trump but he will be reviled for the rest of his life and beyond, especially as the ones who will write the history are the intellectuals he hates so much. But then he is rich enough to surround himself with sycophants.
Ooooh! He's ENRAGED that both California and car companies want clean air and competitively built cars. La de da.
10
We tool along in relatively old Benzes, and we will stay with them as we buy new. If they support a clean environment. Not if they don’t.
4
The underlying issue for so many of these stories regarding Trump Administration actions is that over the last eight to ten decades, through both Republican and Democratic Administrations and Congresses, power has shifted more and more from the Legislative to the Executive Branch.
In general, when there is a President people like, they have rooted for him to have the power to do what they want. They ignore the fact that the power will continue to reside there, when there is a President they don't like.
Meanwhile, Congress has ceded much of its Constitutional power and responsibility to Presidents. Most notably, Congress' most "sacred" Constitutional authority and responsibility, the declaring of war, has been totally ignored, the war-making authority handed over to Presidents, even as Congress funded undeclared wars in Korea, Viet Nam, Afghanistan, and Iraq which have killed around 100,000 Americans.
Unless Americans elect Representatives and Senators of whatever party who are absolutely pledged to reasserting Congressional oversight and authority in practice, nothing will change. Trump and whoever follows him will continue to be able to do much of whatever he or she pleases without developing the legislative consensus necessary for a functioning democracy.
7
The reason power has switched to the Executive is that the GOP has controlled the Senate and deliberately blocked every bipartisan bill Obama brought to them. He tried hard to reach consensus and be a President for everyone but the GOP was too radical to ever meet him in the middle. Now with Trump the Senate isn’t even trying to exert any power.
Next, Trump will announce a federal grant to re-open the Stanley Motor Carriage Company and produce beautiful coal-fired steam automobiles.
14
@Richard Schumacher
Using only “clean” coal of course.
"An Aug. 7 report by Consumer Reports concluded...the rollback would increase the nation’s oil consumption by 320 billion gallons."
And there you have it, more Republican corporate socialism. Need more be said?
24
“...the process (affecting millions of people and billions of dollars) is now being helmed by Francis Brooke, a 29-year-old White House aide with limited experience in climate change policy....”
A 29 year old!!! The whole administration is scary - and this is a perfect example of why. A 29 yo! I am sure Mr. Brooke is a nice guy (well, as nice as anyone who worked for Pence could be) but he’s 29 - in charge of a regulation that will affect all of us for decades.
13
@KJ - If he worked for Pence he's not a nice guy.
10
Not many years from now the words "Donald Trump" will have replaced "Benedict Arnold" as the noun of choice to describe someone who acts in a way counter to the U.S.'s best interests (i.e., someone who is a traitor).
18
You really have to hand it to Trump, his thirst for horrendous ideas has no limit.
14
How often do we read “Trump was enraged....” followed by attempts at retaliation? The man is like a child bully who has become incapable of further bullying and is infuriated at the blow to his ego.
7
I drive a Nissan and am disappointed not to see their name among those companies planning to adhere to California's requirements. Needless to say that next year, when I'll be trading in the Nissan for a new model, I will be looking only at those cars made by one of the companies that demonstrates an interest in reducing emissions rather than increasing them.
13
I recommend the Tesla’s made in the U.S. and totally electric.
To better understand the seemingly unfathomable mind-behavior dynamic of Trump one needs to grasp the fact that he thinks the environment itself is out to get him. And, thanks to evolution and biology it will. We can only pray in time to save itself.
8
I'm a native Californian and proud of Governor Newsom and AG Becerra for their efforts to protect Californians and the environment from the actions of the Trump administration. I hope that more automakers see the wisdom of following our lead.
24
Our oil producing enemies include Russia, Iraq, Iran, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, etc. Cut off their oil money and their power will diminish. The West can do this by converting to green energy and abandoning fossil fuels.
13
“Obama-era rules” is all that matters to Trump. The environment, the cost to consumers, the fact that manufacturers are willing to comply and don’t want to turn back the clock—all of this means nothing to a man who leads only in accordance with his petty grievances.
8
The disarray in Trump's attempt to overturn the Obama-era fuel standards is sourced both by the incompetence of Trump's advisors and the emerging thrust on part of the automobile industry to keep the standards. Trump's energy advisor, the 28 year old Francis Brooke, is a typical Trump appointee in terms of inexperience and purposeful ignorance of energy-related and environmental facts, nurtured by his association on the staffs of Mick Mulvaney, Andy Barr, Mitch McConnell and VP Pence. This "experience" led him to be appointed by Trump to lead the discussions on the values and benefits of fossil fuels consumption at the the United Nations’ climate talks in Bonn, Germany last November. I don't have to describe how that went over. He doesn't even have to make pretexts as to which side of climate change he is on, it is certainly not fact based. With commensurate incompetence at the heads of EPA and the DoT, I am now somewhat relieved that if Trump doesn't withdraw his attempt to derail the Obama mileage standards and the matter is challenged in the courts, the latter will favor the plaintiffs all the way up to and including the SCOTUS.
8
@Rudy Ludeke
I would never bet on the five Federalist Society Republicans on the SCOTUS to do the right thing.
2
As our former governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger used to say, "California should not be independent, but should act independently." Bravo.
18
Donald Trump has no idea why automakers are not supporting his reactionary, misguided step backwards to rescind the Obama administration's fuel efficiency regulations. This is consistent with his total ignorance of the U.S. and California’s legislative and regulatory precedents regarding cleaner, more efficient vehicles.
The U. S. vehicle manufacturers have opposed increasingly tighter emissions regulations since they were first mandated by the Clean Air Act of 1970. The environment has benefited and the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs, to be inclusive of light and heavy duty vehicles) fully understand that The European Union, Canada, Japan, China and India have targeted fuel efficiency regulations equivalent to approximately 47.7-to- 56.6 miles per gallon into the next decade. While there might be opposition to the timeframes to implement these fuel efficiency requirements, to their credit, the OEMs are creating innovative technologies to make cleaner, more fuel efficient vehicles. That developmental pathway cannot be turned back by the President’s scrawl on an executive order. The OEMs understand that the Trump administration’s foolish and ill-conceived pathway to weaken the fuel efficiency regulations would put the them at a major competitive disadvantage in all the global vehicle markets now and into the future.
9
This flailing attempt by the Administration has nothing to do with helping the car industry or the general public. It's just an extension of their Total Energy Dumbness plan, first promoted by two Trump appointees both now out after their lack of professional ethics got them booted.
It's purely an attempt to save the stranded assets of the petroleum donors.
9
I'm sorry.I have had fuel efficient cars for quite a while now. I'm not going back. This is not a well thought out plan
8
Trump is trying to unravel everything good Obama did for us. And in doing this, he merely shows us how intelligent and caring and respected Obama is.
9
Anything our illustrious president touches, declares, or proposes always ends up in disarray. If you asked him what time it is, he couldn't make up his mind.
6
The 'rationale' Trump gives for making our air dirtier, the planet hotter, and real people dying real deaths as a result, is so bogus in this case that even the companies and consumers it is supposed to 'help' are organizing against it. It's hard to not see Trump's real motive: undo all of Obama's accomplishments, as part of his racist agenda. I will never buy a car from a company that goes along with Trump's racist, anti-planet agenda, and hope everyone else boycotts any company that does.
12
I drive a Prius and couldn't be happier. My commute adds up to 200+ miles a week but with this car I never pay more than $36 a week and that's in CA. It's a pleasure to drive.
What I'm about to say may not be popular but I do think car manufactures should be able to sell one or two models which don't meet CA state requirements. I acknowledge the fact that the freedom to buy these cars should be respected.
5
The way smart automakers see it:
1) Trump has about one year left in the WH.
2) Sourcing, manufacturing, distributing and servicing schemes for specific car types have a life span of five to ten years - it’s very expensive to switch once things have been set-up in certain ways.
3) Let’s wait out Trump
9
Well, if you don’t like Government-mandated fuel efficiency standards, there is another way: double/triple/quadruple fuel taxes.
Ignore the President. States can do this. Cities can probably do it.
Could this be the elephant in the room that Honda et al can see and want to avoid by signing on to mileage standards?
4
We just went on a road trip from a Boston suburb to rural Maine in my mom’s new Tesla Model 3. To me, it was a revelation - you’re not tethered to a short distance from home, at all. Electric cars are really convenient to use (and according to Mom, fun to drive, too.)
262 miles, with 4 people plus luggage, and we only stopped once on the way to recharge, at the Mile 24 rest stop in Maine. Recharging took 15 minutes (seriously!) via a Tesla quick charge station, for free, while we got lunch.
My parents normally charge their cars at home; electric panels on the roof of the house make more power than they use, so the electricity (for the cars and everything else) is basically free and 100% renewable.
I’m curious about commercial vehicles, like long-haul trucks...can they feasibly be switched to electric? Same with diesel-powered trains - and they have plenty of space for solar panels on the roof - free fuel!
12
@emily "....262 miles, with 4 people plus luggage..."
Impossible. How on earth do 4 people with luggage fit into one 4-door sedan? I mean, I know that back in the day an entire family of six could do similar, in their station wagon. But today? No, today everyone needs their own personal SUV for their fat selves, and all their 'stuff'.
Good for my state! Trump does not care about the car purchaser. He wants to curry favor with the oil industry and stick it to anyone who believes in climate change. Corporations are no longer afraid of his tweets and outbursts. Why should they be? He'll be out of office at some point (and not soon enough), though the damage from his administration will be significant. When he is gone, the car makers still need to sell cars. With a downturn or recession on the horizon, who doesn't want to save on gas?
11
“The president framed it as a way to retaliate against both California and the four automakers in California’s camp, those people said.”
This is what leadership in America has been reduced to. We have a preschooler in a grown man’s body who has no interest in governing, but to inflict as much damage as he can to this country and its citizens. I am proud of the automakers who have decided to ignore Trump, and are instead behaving like the responsible adults that this nation so desperately needs.
17
Cannot justify buying another Toyota now, I've been a customer for 30 years and this is the last straw.
9
@Rosiepi - Write and let them know this.
1
Why didn’t California demand that the Obama goals be met? The deal was agreed to because without it, the companies feared the possibility of having to meet Obama’s goals, which could devastated them. Trump should stop trying to force his weaker standards, and keep Obama’s measures in place. Quickly, you would see the signatures of the California agreement in court demanding a compromise with the Federal government, where the debate should take place. California has no right to negotiate federal standards higher than the existing mandates. If Trump stops efforts to change Obama’s plan, will California fight to keep the existing requirements in place, or decreasing the pollution standards that would still apply? Trump should force companies to either support his proposal, or fight to keep the requirements Obama mandated in place.
1
I can't be the only person who has made this comment, but Trump really doesn't care if automakers sign on with California or not. It's simply a political statement to his base. Automakers will very likely find electric and other solutions that make sense as technology catches up. The standards are not driving that process.
The more important goal is to reduce the use of petroleum based plastics and add recycles materials. I need to review that data again.
And think about the impact of more rules related to the use of LED lighting when something like 40% of electricity use is tied to lighting (electricity largely generated by fossil fuels).
So what really as an impact, and what is more about politics on both sides of the political spectrum?
4
Trumps math as usual is deficient..
If you take a 35K car and add only 1% a year until 2035 the car will cost 40K plus ... So the cost will be approx $5600 higher anyway.
Not counting if electric or Hybrid is 3K more in 2020 as quantity of scale will bring unit cost down as Car Mfrs ramp up production...
Trumo is just trying to play favors w the oil and gas companies Who will win anyway as probably over half the power plants are natural gas run ...
5
It's hard to believe Toyota would stand with Trump on this. They own a healthy share of the automotive market in California. The loss of revenue in that market -- one of the most robust in the US -- would result in significant loss of revenue, even if they added a new division to make California-compliant vehicles. It's hard to understand why Toyota (or any major automaker, really) would cut their own fiscal throat over this.
9
The only thing that I can think of is the majority of their plants in the United States are located in southern states; Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama, Texas and West Virginia.
4
California is the world's fifth largest economy, and the Feds have no power to weaken her environmental protection laws.
16
California needs to counter the regressive Trump EPA vehicle mileage regulations by mandating a zero emissions vehicle requirement for all cars licensed in California to be phased in over the next 10 years. At that time, all old and new cars licensed in California will be electric or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Zero emission vehicle sales will increase and their prices will come down. Car manufacturers will have to follow California's lead. California historically has led the Nation. Let's lead the nation on zero emission vehicles.
8
And he’s doing it again, along with the rest of the never-to-be crowd. Let them all run for the Senate, where they’re REALLY needed.
Cutting off your nose to spite your face is what this sounds like to me.
5
They are not Obama's emission standards, they are ours.
28
Does anyone know where Subaru is in this?
8
I sent an email to Toyota today letting them know that as an owner of a 2013 Toyota Sienna van, I was considering buying a new one. But that I won't buy anything from a company that supports the lowering of environmental standards.
Either Toyota gets on board and publically supports the CA (former Obama) regulations, or Toyota is crossed off my list for good.
Don't know how much it will help, but companies need to know that people won't support irresponsible behavior by them.
28
@Shadar I did the same. "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead
10
@Shadar I just sent Toyota an email stating that if they don't sign onto California Plan, then I will get rid of my 2017 Highland Hybrid and disinherit my children if they ever buy Toyota.
7
One wonders if Trump supporters realize that he is fighting for their “right” to pay more for driving to work.
20
@Other - while enjoying dirtier air.
5
I strongly dislike conservatives. They are always hindrance to any good thing the society wants to do. They tried to stop Mr. Lincoln for abolishing slavery, Opposed civil rights movement, opposed de-colonization of nations and now they want the global warming to go unchecked.
25
Do a web search: Historic plastic pollution agreement signed by 180 plus countries without the USA
This is USA's shame as the few other nations that didn't sign this agreement were tin pot undeveloped nations. USA is in a race to the bottom.
19
One could make the argument that this all goes back to the 2011 White House Correspondents dinner (the same week Bin Laden was killed) where Donald was completely and publicly humiliated by Seth Meyers and (more importantly) Obama.
A lot of the stuff that Trump has done since he was elected has been to trash anything that Obama did during his Presidency... e.g. the ACA, the Iran agreement, and the auto emissions standards. On these issues it is all about personal grievance and hatred... Not about any rational gorvernmental or even political policy or strategy.
20
@Engineer - Yep. Ironically Trump will go down in history as one of the most despised beings on the planet and President Obama will go down in history as a great man and a very good President.
10
The last 2.8 years of constant national and global trauma, disruption and deaths, and of the almost endless fears of people of color and women are the direct results of Dems not showing up to the 2016 vote.
It's on their heads.
9
SUV's have no place in city streets and are just a 'status symbol'. How you get peoples egos out of the equation is hard to fathom as the SUV's say to all the other people driving cheap cars that I own this because I am success and you couldn't afford one or the cost of the petrol in my petrol guzzling vehicle.
4WD's are also causing accidents in cities as if you're in a 2wd you can't see over them when backing out of car parks or doing a right hand turn into a main road. For 2wd vehicle drivers they're a pain on the roads as you have to pack out of car parks 'blind' and do right hand turns 'blind'. My guess is they cause lots of accidents for the ordinary average car driver.
7
@CK And don't forget about the huge new gas guzzling pickups that are popular right now, especially in the southwest. They are becoming so large and their drivers are constantly exceeding the speed limits so much than when an accident does happen, there are often fatalities in the other vehicle. The sooner they quit making them the better.
9
This story neatly demonstrates the rot at the core of the Trump administration. I was always shocked by their rejection of science, but it's broader than that - it's the rejection of inconvenient facts, with the substitution of what Trump would like to be true instead. It's the ultimate gaslighting, where the proponents are completely fooling themselves. I actually don't believe Trump is lying, because in order to feed the narcissist beast within, he must truly believe this stuff himself. A person who passionately believes something that isn't true is far more dangerous than a manipulating liar because the former has a much easier time convincing others; witness Trump's extraordinary rallies. We must wake up soon, but it won't be by attacking Trump supporters, it will be by reaching out to them.
9
Daily Trump Chaos - people should pump auto emissions into one of his MAGA rallies so his adherents feel the impact of his policies and cabinet selections (fossil fuel lobbyists running adept of Interior adept and EPA). They got the leader they deserve
8
So we have a 29 year old former Pence staffer writing environmental policy and a 33 year old former press secretary for Michele Bachmann writing our immigration policy. What could possibly go wrong ?
22
Little did we know that elevator in the base of Trump Tower was and extension of Pandora's Box. We were warned.
7
Wow. Trump wants to force automakers to pollute against their will. We may have reached the bottom of the rabbit hole - but the toddler-in-chief just keeps digging down.
13
Follow the money. Every gas-guzzling truck puts money into the oil industry coffers. Big oil companies are paying off Republican politicians. Trump responds to the oligarchy.
All of this is foolishness. We won't have internal combustion engines (ICE) in 20 years. If we don't make electric cars because of our corrupt system the Chinese will make them and will have to buy them from China.
What we need to do is support American companies like Tesla who were at the forefront of the electrical revolution of the auto industry. ICE cars are history. We need to get in front of history. The only way to accomplish that is to get money out of the system.
Join makeitfair.us. Look up the American anticorruption act. Get involved!
11
So all the officials with pollution expertise have been transferred to other departments or left the administration?
And the wizard Trump has the “process being helmed by Francis Brooke, a 29-year-old White House aide with limited experience in climate change policy “?!! Ain’t that just dandy?
I think this NYT article engaged in vast understatement when it said:
“Staff members at the Environmental Protection Agency and Transportation Department, which are writing the rule, say they are struggling to assemble a coherent technical and scientific analysis required by law”.
Trump may try to deny science, but the law requires it for some of our rules.
7
Everyone wants fuel efficiant cars. No one wants to line the pockets of the oil company execs- duh. I'm from TX and i onow that! Auto companies relaize as soon as the GOP is history, the rules will be back and it is really hard and exspensive to redo an undone thing.
9
With 320 million in this country there has to be a majority that are fed up with this corrupt old man sitting in the WH. There just has to be, right? right? If not, time for democracy to fold it's tent and move on.
12
@Bob81+3
It's about showing up at election time and not running in circles and barking up a tree with some hapless third party ballot.
5
@Bob81+3 Well a majority of those who voted were already against him in 2016.
4
There is no greater evidence of the imbecility of this regime and its leader than this episode.
15
Why is that virtually everything emanating from this White House comes with the descriptor "disarray?" To declare it a "clown car" would be an insult to the clowns. At least clowns have their act together before they appear in public.
7
A dictator is directly at odds with the wishes of the people, the land and the living.
13
I think it is a horrible and frankly stupid idea to change a law that is helping to save our environment. Trump seemingly doesn't care about the rise in pollution the new law would cause. It's great that California and some car manufacturers are taking a stand against Trump and his administration. I hope that they are able to stop the law from being passed, we don't need more green house gases contributing to climate change.
13
Why? Who benefits from a rollback in auto emissions of carbon monoxide? Big oil? Saudi Arabia? Russian/Chinese/Indian automobile manufacturers? The disadvantaged outnumber the beneficiaries by a multiple, starting with everyone who breathes air. As innovative automotive technologies deliver greater efficiencies - along comes a monster disincentive to invest in planet saving research. This move by the Trump administration truly beggars belief. What's next? A return to coal-powered steam engines and power plants?
21
In the "olden days, "California emissions" was a thing for auto manufacturers. Vehicles being built for CA buyers had to meet the standard but others didn't. The smog reduction in CA was undeniable and eventually CA emission standards were adopted across the country. This caused auto makers outside the US to comply, which has had a global effect. Now CA is leading the charge to achieve increased fuel efficiency to reduce the warming effects of CO2 emissions. Thank you California for using your weight as the sixth largest economy in the world to motivate this improvement.
29
I grew up in L.A. in the San Fernando Valley in the '60s and '70s. Back then the summers in the Valley brought brown--- literally--- brown skies/smog...every day for months. We used to call sunsets "smog-sets" because of the colors created at dusk by the filth in the air. And this is before L.A. started warning adults to keep kids inside on smog-filled days.
Now when I visit Los Angeles, especially during the summer, I am always happily amazed at how clean the air is compared to when I lived there. I am proud of the work California has done to clean up it's environment. And I hope that never changes for the kids playing in the sun and the adults watching those kids.
31
@Debbie
Air is clean in Birmingham, AL, and many other places where there used to be steel mills!! AKA there are almost no factory jobs left in the USA!!
Trump is disarray personified! Having him in the White House is like constantly living on a collision course.
20
Women in America have a choice re abortion.
But Trump doesn’t want America to have a choice re how much pollution we will be exposed to.
7
@Gian Piero Messi - Trump doesn't want us to have choices regarding anything.
13
Yippie!
Maybe his "genius status" will be stripped away or at least questioned, given yet another loss from the Deal Maker-in- Chief.
10
Trump is enraged and desperate to rush the rollback because the Koch brothers are breathing down his neck.
16
It is long past time to just ignore Trump and his idiotic decisions to make America Worse--more polluted, more unhealthy, stupider, meaner, more corrupt, more untrustworthy, and more despised around the world.
To get ourselves through the Trump end of times, just hum that old song:
I got along without you before I met you
Gonna get along without you now
And forget about engineering regime change abroad in countries such as Cuba, Venezuela, Iran. We need regime change right here in this country in 2020 before Trump makes this country any more authoritarian, debased, degenerate, demoralized, and hated.
19
This must be Trump's worst nightmare ........ businessman doing what's good for them , good for the environment and good for humanity. He probably wakes up in a cold sweat , crying out for Melania or Steven Miller to comfort him.
17
Riding my bike the other day in Denver...could feel the fumes and dirt in the air....so many cars....the world is not flat, pollution is bad and more efficient cars are good because they are cheaper to operate over the life of the car and they help the one and only world we have. I feel like we're living an upside down gilded age of stupidity.
16
One would think that the stable genius six-time bankrupt president could figure this one out. California with the world's fifth-largest economy has tremendous leverage over the bargaining position of the automakers. The automaker's can write off California's lucrative market, which no one in their right mind would do, or they can follow Trump's stupidity. Any CEO, and Toyota we're looking at you, who goes down the latter path, deserves to lose their market share. Actually, the real reason is that Trump is a vile, vindictive, little man.
18
Here we have major manufacturers resisting a rollback in regulations which are important for our security in two major ways.
One is the reduction in CO2 emissions reducing climate change. The other is reduced dependence of foreign oil - which has been a major factor driving our involvement in Middle East politics.
Aside from that, better gas mileage saves money for the consumer.
Trump ignores all of this and lies about the cost of his proposal. Why would he do that? Pick one: To humiliate Obama? To please his donors? To please Putin? All of the above?
18
Having recently stopped in Dubai and saw the world’s tallest buildings and several other massive developments I was struck with thought that the people of the oil producing nations, who park their oil revenues in Dubai, Putin and Maduro would like to thank Americans for continuing to buy large gas guzzlers
6
How do you get Trump to change a light bulb? Tell him Obama installed it.
Trump is a sad fraud who accomplished nothing for this country.
11
@RickP They better hope the air conditioning holds out. This region is one of the regions that will not support animal life in the next 50 years if nothing changes. Yes folks there is an upper limit to how much heat animals can take.
1
The depth of Donnie's hate for Obama is un-fathomable and the absence of any way for him to diminish Barack's impact on our hearts and minds, impossible.
17
POTUS is one sick man... But, after you pull back the covers on all his machinations it's nothing more then trying to divert attention away from numerous hidden (for now) misdeeds. That day of reckoning will come, you can be sure.
16
I am super interested to see if he or his associates are doing any insider options trading off the daily volatility his inconsistent and poorly planned positions are creating in the market. RUSSIA, if you are listening...
4
I too have thought about that. Perhaps not by telling anyone his moves directly, but calling them and asking them for “advice” and nodding in agreement
2
This is an entry-level class on how to destroy what little remains of the American auto industry. Eliminate all the restrictions you like, it will only hurt GM and Ford.
To sell a car in Europe, Asia, or elsewhere, automakers will still need the higher pollution and EPA standards. So European and Asian automakers will design their cars to meet those standards. Which they will also sell in the United States.
Consumers will have the choice of a Chevrolet or Ford that gets 20 mpg with fewer safety features and emissions controls, or a Toyota or Volkswagen that gets 36 mpg, and is safer, pollutes less, and is of higher quality. Except for the consumers who try to buy American no matter what, everybody else will choose the import.
Lowering standards is literally allowing the manufacturer to be LESS competitive in the marketplace. Oh yeah, and as a society, we're all worse off with the extra pollution.
Trump is literally the dumbest person to ever set foot in Washington D.C., and that is really saying something.
29
Trump wants to turn the US auto industry into the Lada or Trablant - a steaming polluting jalopy that will be banned from export
3
@Dutch you mean Trabant, the GDR car that speeded up the end of the Berlin wall. And don't forget the Wartburg, the deluxe E. German car.
Rolling back protections on endangered species, opening up more federal lands to drilling and mining, and dismantling the infrastructure of federal scientists that inform decision making wasn't enough.
Part of the problem is that there is now a surplus of oil and natural gas so Trump needs to find some way to increase consumption to keep his friends happy and wealthy, including the Saudis and Russians.
He really is destroying the planet. Isn't that what is meant by a high crime, a crime against our country and our humanity?
18
Perhaps the article should have been an umbrella one with the title "Trump's Administration Shows Signs of Disarray". This administration is just one insane thing after another.
8
donald, disarray? Couldn't be.
Shouldn't the surprise be if donald and his crew weren't in disarray on any given issue? You pick it.
8
Ignorance, incompetence and vindictiveness are not qualities befitting a president.
Vote for the Democratic nominee in 2020 - even if they're not your favorite candidate.
We have to remove the cancer that has once again affected the presidency.
17
Trump has already lost this battle. He never has learned that uncertainty and chaos is never a legitimate business's goals. He may like to run his company and the country that way, but business hates it. The moment CA reached agreement with the four automakers the Trump plan was done. CA and the other states which have the higher standards are going to control this as they represent a significant portion of the car purchasing power in this country.
One by one car manufacturers will seek the stability they need when it comes to fuel standards and they will sign on to the CA plan.
Trump has lost and he will make the loss even worse for himself as he fights this battle which he cannot win.
16
What about a class-action suit from billions of people in scores of nations going after Trump and his administration for dereliction of duty, conspiracy to commit environmental crimes and whatever else a smart coterie of top lawyers can cram in?
Trump loves lawsuits and fighting for the sake of it. Let's give him what he wants and financially destroy both him and his team of larcenists.
10
Grief! The automakers should not want to get stuck in the dark ages with a bunch of Trump-era dinosaurs on their hands. Other countries will provide more fuel-efficient cars and trucks and the consumers will welcome those.
What will this destructive monster create tomorrow?
13
Glad to know that some car manufacturers are aware that going backwards would be foolish at this point. They've already been working on the technology for a while, invested massive amounts of money into to it. They aren't going to throw all that away just to appease a decree from an increasingly irrational Trump.
6
I just followed the example of one commenter and emailed Toyota Motor Co, via the “contact us” link, my decision to not purchase another Toyota if they side with Trump on this. Least I can do for the country and environment.
18
One thing this article doesn't mention is that the car manufacturers also have to comply with European standards which are much higher than what Trump wants...so, from a pure $ standpoint, this makes good economic sense.
15
@Southern Hope - China and other governments are also pushin electric vehicles because it's an attainable way to reduce some really awful air pollution.
So the takeaway is China's Communist Party cares more about the health of their people than our Administration does about us.
11
Good - "imperil", as the NY Times puts it, his devious plan to dismantle progress. Americans, and the world, deserve better than the Trump administration's determined and nonsensical retrograde "anti-Obama" policies. Malice, spite, and bias are no basis for our future.
5
The automakers, don't want it. The public doesn't want it. Just who exactly is Trump serving here? This makes the rollback look like nothing more than a spiteful gesture in the culture wars, to hit the environmentalists and the "libs" because, hey, if they're for it, we've got to be against it. Classic cutting off your nose to spite your face.
8
Honda, Ford, Volkswagen, BMW or Mercedez - I know who I will buy my next car from.
7
My 2018 Passat gats 35 city and almost 45 on a long trip.
1
The world looks to California to show the way!
Trump's prehistoric views on the environment are very obvious to any thinking person and he is incapable of anything else.
5
Good riddance... run the clock out on Trump's stupidest idea of all, to raise fuel costs $460 billion on working families. Think about that. We are really talking about one of the largest tax increases in history, and by a Republican, no less.
That the cash goes to oil executive bonuses rather than the IRS matters no one whit: This is an extraordinary shift of vast amounts of cash from families to the flim-flam-artist-in-chief's oil industry campaign contributors.
10
Why is anyone surprised? Besides bigotry and hypocrisy, incompetence is about the only other thing Republicans are good at.
The limits of elevating a reality TV star with six bankruptcies to President become more and more apparent every day.
While my hope is that Trump is gone in 2020, the fact that relic of slavery, the Electoral College, allows for minority rule gives me pause for concern.
While the bigoted intolerant Evangelicals that form the base of the GOP and the Trump cult are a minority in terms of population, they are potentially a majority in the Electoral College, especially if the Republicans take Russian help again like they did on 2016.
As the Times 1619 project shows, this country will never escape slavery...
6
Trump is clearly displaying his utter disdain and contempt for the Obama-era pollution rules over any regard or appreciation of the environment or its inhabitants.
Scary how deep one's hatred will go, where it will take him, and the consequences resulting from that hate.
9
What's next, Mr Trump; Radium indices on watch dials, Thalidomide for morning sickness, or Lead water pipes?
12
What's next for Trump? Remove restrictions on cigarette manufacturing and advertising?
10
This could be the first time in a generation that mega-corporations are ahead of the government on the environment. I never thought I'd see that happen.
Maybe not all is lost?
9
Buying a new car real soon, in the market now.
My shopping will include only carmakers in the California plan. That's three so far and counting (VW, you're still dead to me, even though I seriously like the Golf R)...plus Tesla. I'll keep an eye on the list to see if it grows.
8
He's pandering to the fossil fuels industry lobbyists. The US auto industry has to compete with the world and the only way to stay in the game is to produce energy efficient vehicles.
11
Thanks for naming the car companies that do not support Trump or Republicans in further degrading the environment. Thank you California for helping the rest of the country. I have usually bought Toyotas, but will switch to Honda if they go along with Trump against humanity. Not only is coal going to die, but electric and solar vehicles are going to replace the oil guzzlers no matter how many Republicans and Fox Newsters the oil companies buy. Time to vote Republicans out of all branches of government.
15
Isn't better fuel economy a strong selling point for consumers? I may not be able to force Washington to address global warming, but by heck I can make my contribution by buying a greener car - and I save fuel costs for my own pocketbook to boot. If all manufacturers made greener cars, manufacturers would do their part and making carbon coughers would no longer be a part of any purchasing equation. I doubt any sales would be lost in doing that.
The only reason to do otherwise is the impulse to put greed for wringing every last cent out of cars over any consideration to protect the biosphere, even when the pain of doing so could be minimal at worst, effectively.
7
We are a Honda (+ 1 orphan Subaru) family. Will only buy Honda from now on. My favorite car is our 2018 CRV - drives like a dream, high enough to see over most sedans and takes up little space. The best part? Cheap to run!
9
I would have thought that supporting Improved fuel consumption and less politico would be like supporting puppy dogs and rainbows,... you'd have to be pretty miserable to hate puppies and rainbows,.... right?
I'm a car guy, I've been repairing and restoring for, well, let's just say more than a few decades. I love the fact that a modern hybrid or electric can accelerate faster than an equivalent gas engine, improve efficiency by quite a bit, and require little to no maintenance.
10
@Jeff I've done the rebuilding too. I am amazed by the quietness and reliability of our all electric Chevy Bolt. I watched a video of the disassembly of the drive motor, fixed gear and differential for the front wheel drive, and there are only (as I recall) only 13 moving parts. So little to go wrong. I find that people test drive EVs at the risk of falling in love with them.
3
A rollback of emissions standards is a crime against humanity and the planet.
The vast majority of Americans (75%+) want these standards in place and protected from special interests.
Who will hold Trump and his plutocracy accountable?
Maybe “We the People” need to hold trials and judge ... reward and penalize ... those responsible for putting short-term profits before the interest of humanity and the planet.
5
Per the majority of comments I have read so far, consumers don’t want what Trump is selling. He wants gas guzzling polluting vehicles, and Americans want what they can afford; fuel efficient, clean and often, electric vehicles that meet their needs.
Why does he even care? He doesn’t drive a car himself and the car companies want to sell the vehicles consumers want, not what Trump wants them to have.
It seems what he wants, is to be the boss of everyone, the smartest one in the room, the coolest and most admired. He wants the same adulation and admiration that President Obama had by just by being himself. The harder Trump chases it, the more it is out of his reach. Even if people didn’t agree with Obama, it was clear that the things he did were because he thought they were best for the country, not for his reputation or popularity. Trump chases policies always in search of pleasing people. Sometimes it’s his base, sometimes his rich friends and sometimes the rich and powerful that do not like him to start with, including Putin, Kim and the Hollywood elite that he claims to disdain.
17
@Jane K - Trump wants to inflict as much damage, pain and destruction as he possibly can. Damaging our environment and harming millions of people is a dream come true for him.
2
We don't just need auto pollution rules. We need auto rules. What can be done about the proliferation of SUVS, not just on our highways and in our suburban neighborhoods but.... clogging our densely-populated cities?
Look around in NYC, and study the vehicles on our streets. If you really start to take note, I'd say around 70%+ of all vehicles, are in fact SUVs. The SUVs on our streets also seem to be trending towards even larger models...Yukon, Navigator, Denali, Grand Cherokee, Escalade, Jeeps and even 4x4s. Why on earth do people require such massive private vehicles? Oh, we hear every explanation in the book... I have kids...my kids play sports... I feel 'safer' in an SUV (when in fact they are more likely to roll over in an accident...)...more comfortable, blah blah.
SUVs and the like have no place being in cities such as NYC. They are more deadly to pedestrians and cyclists. They should be eradicated.
13
@Lisa I used to live in Auckland NZ in the 1980's and I worked in Queen Street, which is the main street in Auckland city, and all the other office employees I worked with used to refer to the people driving them a 'Queen Street Farmers'. You're right they're for country life and not on city streets. Who needs a 4wd on a city street? Probably only government vehicles during a national disaster. I don't know what the main street in NY is but start referring to people who drive SUV's as NY Farmers. (an oxymoron)
4
Progress forward to advance humanity. Regress back and you get the picture. Trump always seems to be trying to turn back history to a time when, if you do the research, was never as good as the revisionists portend it to be.
5
I wonder if there are many people who would knowingly buy a car whose manufacturer deliberately worsened air pollution. (Not I.)
15
@polymath, unfortunately there are a lot of people who don't care and for whom brand loyalty and image reign supreme. I have a coworker whose Jeep was constantly in the shop until she decided to replace it.... with a new Jeep. It doesn't help that lots of these manufacturers pander HARD to the 'Merica crowd.
3
The World's top oil producing country can dismember a journalist, and Trump will take their side of the issue, and continue backing its various proxy-wars. The World's second largest oil producing country is Vladimir Putin. Trump is looking out for the people who will have his back when his term is over.
11
The Republican battle cry is "Let the markets decide." Well Mr. President, the market has decided.
16
Boris Badanov of "Bullwinkle" fame and Snidely Whiplash of "Dudley Do-Right" fame could not be the truly evil cartoon characters that trump is. Who would ask the car manufacturer to increase their pollution output? Only the most malevolent cartoon character of them all.
10
Where is Mary Barra from GM? Silent....and disappointing. Show some leadership Mary - I drive your Volt and I assure you it will be the last GM vehicle I will ever drive if you don't get onboard quickly. I know you were on the presidents business round table and seen first hand his regressive inabilities. Stand up to the bully. Its simply the right thing to do - environmentally and economically speaking.
21
Trump will demand sanctions and tariffs against California and the automakers joining their pact. Then he will muse about a 2nd Amendment solution to this problem at his next rally.
More likely, he will try to corrupt one of the other automaker's CEOs, get him to sign on to the administration's proposal, and use him to "own the libs" or something.
4
This was just another way for Trump to repudiate President Obama . The original auto emissions rule was his. His hate for the last real president is obsessive and dangerous. He has scrapped everything that Obama accomplished.
7
Can anyone explain precisely what is wrong with this administration? Do they have no interest in what the US public finds not negotiable? Clean air, clean water, open spaces, protections for creatures without guns... is this so hard?
8
This has Koch Industries written all over it. As Christopher Leonard has written, Koch has its tendrils in nearly every aspect of the fossil fuel industry. From extraction, to refinery, to transport, to many of its derivative products like fertilizers. Koch is also a major contributor to GOP candidates, including Trump. As in most things, simply follow the money. Poor fuel economy means more gasoline consumption which means more profits for the Koch brothers. Why else would Trump actively want to worsen fuel standards? Oh yeah, better mileage is also something Obama advocated, so there is that mean-spirited angle as well.
10
First Trump issues a rule to gut the Endangered Species Act. Now this. Meanwhile, dead fish and sea mammals are washing up on U.S. beaches because of algal blooms caused by climate change, and this summer there was an increase in the number of people who contracted flesh eating bacteria at beach areas, also caused by climate change. His campaign is selling plastic straws because more and more people now know how bad they are for the environment.
And he thinks his anti-environmental stances are a political winner for him. I doubt it.
Everybody get to the polls and vote him out in 2020. It's now clear that our lives and the lives of our children and grandchildren depend on it.
12
Our local government only buys electric cars for it's employees to drive and our central government is buying some electric cars and offering big cash incentives to citizens who buy electric cars. Is the USA making electric cars and is the government encouraging production of electric cars to get down pollution etc. Seems to be the way the world is going. Better join the rest of the world or you'll be left behind. Is there Research and Development funds given by central government to people who invent the next big invention or car to get down environmental pollution in the USA? China seems to be investing big bucks in this area of research and so is Europe and even on a smaller scale, NZ.
3
Consolidated Edison has experienced rolling blackouts several times this year alone and the NYC suburbs often have thousands of customers without power in the days after storms yet no one gives any attention to the vast infrastructure needed to support an electric fleet.
2
Yeah we need to redo our Infrastructure. The whole power grid, everything.
3
Mr. Trump has no interest in workable solutions, nor what future, international, markets will demand. His only interest is waging war with his predecessor.
8
Here's the flip side of the un-democratic republican system that gives disproportionate power to small states like Wyoming. The large state of California may have only two votes in the Senate, but its population, and thus its own government, have disproportionate power in the marketplace. Fortunately it wields that power to effect rationale, compassionate, far-sighted change. If California were split into several smaller states, as some have proposed, that power would not exist, but Republicans would never support such a move because it would threaten their hold on the Senate.
9
I remember when Ralph Nader's book, "Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile" first came out in 1965. It was considered a landmark book for consumer auto safety which accused car manufacturers of resistance to the introduction of safety features, and their general reluctance to spend money on improving safety.
Since then, I've always been either a wee bit leery if not more mindful of automakers, always remembering that they are in the business of making and selling cars.
However, in light of this bold and unprecedented move by various automakers in opposing Trump's auto emissions rollbacks, I have come to see and respect them in a different light for they rate and care more about the environment above the whims of this president.
I never thought I would see myself cheering for ANY automaker. Bravo and well done Toyota, Fiat Chrysler, General Motors, Mercedes-Benz and any other automaker who joins them in this unprecedented major industry decision to have stronger regulations and more efficient cars.
Mother Nature - 1
President Trump - 0
6
Toyota???
I wonder why Tesla was not named on the list...
1
@SBJim um because their cars don't run on oil/gas?
2
@SBJim at a guess it’s because they’re already all electric
2
Is trump managing this WH by using a dart board, a roulette wheel or just throwing mud at a wall and seeing how much sticks.
9
Trump's thinking is so irrational, simply because he is acting emotionally and purely on grudges:
1. He hates anything Obama
2. He hates California for voting against him in 2016.
Is this policy? No, but it's despicable.
13
This Trumpian rollback on air quality is nothing more than Obama induced spite by a man with small hands and less of a mind.
8
Note to businessmen supporting this clown:
Great deal for businesses eh?
8
The Trump administration policy against a healthy environment and for pollution is a tragic absurdity and illustrates their extremist obeisance to corporate greed and a deregulation ethic. It is beyond stupidity and avarice. It is disqualifying for any government that purports to serve the interests of its citizens and its future. It is truly horrific!
4
Vote him out.
9
"The White House official called the staff departures irrelevant and said that the rule was near completion. While acknowledging that a major change such as this takes time, the official said that people who were opposed to the rule, including some in the automotive industry, were starting to worry that the Trump plan was going to succeed."
Succeed at what exactly? Getting Americans to keep polluting our air at high levels and propping the oil industry for the privilege instead of have extra discretionary income to spend on other sectors of the economy?
3
"...the numbers, the public comments and the analysis were at odds with what the White House wanted to do."
This is what those of us who live in the realm of non-alternative facts call "reality." Welcome to our world.
10
This shows the limits of nationalism in a global economy. Automakers in other countries will continue to improve fuel efficiency. If US automakers go with the Trump plan they will eventually get wiped out by the competition. Besides, many of the US manufactures have subsidiaries in other countries, which need to sell fuel-efficient vehicles. They have to do the development work, so additional cost is a myth.
It's all about maximizing the oil companies' revenue. Apart from the environmental impact, building greater dependency on oil in the face of an almost inevitable future war in the middle east is not sensible.
14
“Mr. Trump, described by three people as enraged by California’s deal, has demanded that his staff members step up the pace to complete his plan. His proposal, however, is directly at odds with the wishes of many automakers. . . “
Perhaps because the atmosphere around Trump continues to be polluted due to his 90+ EPA rollbacks, this guy clearly can’t see the automakers from the automobiles.
8
Trump's approach to foreign and domestic affairs has only one goal. To dismantle anything with the Obama stamp on it. That's it. An extremely small minded individual who could care less about the consequences. I hope Toyota joins with California and I have expressed that wish to Toyota. I have been a loyal Toyota customer since 1989, but Honda has equally good hybrid models.
14
As has been all too often the case with this Administration's policy, there is no public benefit--the last paragraph tells it all, namely, this is nothing more than an attempt to retaliate against California and, surprisingly, the automakers who support its environmental policies.
8
The obsessively paranoid fool pretending to be president would rather ignore American citizens, the American auto industry, environmental scientists, and California's leaders in his quest to un-do anything that President Obama achieved. This juvenile vendetta against the former president's accomplishments is a disgusting example of how petty and stupid Trump truly is. Putting a 29 year old aid in charge of something of this importance is asinine - Trump is a completely incompetent dimwit who doesn't even understand the basics of good decision making and process implementation.
15
@Mark Hawkins Perfectly put!
7
We’re nearing the point of replacing two cars with 140k miles on them. We certainly won’t be considering a new vehicle from a manufacturer in support of Trump’s rollback.
A quality pre-owned vehicle (in compliance with current emission standards)from a manufacturer in support of Trump’s rollback may be considered if the policy ends up heavily depreciating the value of said vehicles.
Depreciation of reduced standards vehicles may be atypically heavy.
6
@historyRepeated - don't forget to look at the market for used or off-lease electric vehicles. They're out there in growing numbers and have a lower cost to run day-to-day than one that needs tuneups, oil changes, complex power trains, emissions controls, etc...
5
Trump is hell bent on destroying the environment. First to thumb his nose at President Obama by undoing all the progress he made and second to line the pockets of his family and his rich donors. His pettiness and hatred of Obama is not surprising, it was on full display for all to see from day one of the campaign. But I will never understand his donors who are already very wealthy but would rather have even more money than clean air and water.
16
The Trump Administration showing “Signs of Disarray”? Well, knock me over with a feather. Disarray is this administration’s middle name.
13
@Mark Allard and goes back to the very beginning with their transition team.
2
@Mark Allard A-men, brother!
2
It is a simpleton reaction, if there is something Obama did, Trump and his GOP/Republicans cronies want to stop it, roll it back, or end it. Thanks Obama!
6
I have been debating between a Ford or a GMC.....looks like it is going to be a Ford!
10
@Ann - Ford's going to be offering an electric F-150 in a year or two.
People should keep in mind that at the same time that Ford laid off a lot of salaried employees in their petroleum-fueled power train design sections, they invested half a billion in Rivian, who will be selling luxury, all-electric pickups and SUVs.
The market is shifting, the air will be cleaner, and the actions of our current Administration just underline who backwards their "policy" attempts are.
I'm much more optimistic about the future of more electric vehicles and less air pollution than I am about any long-term value in petroleum stocks.
3
@Ann Me too. I'll be buying a Ford over a GMC.
2
Are we tired of all this winning yet? Vote blue no matter who in 2020 and let sanity reign again.
14
The current White House is batting 1000 when it comes to being on the wrong side of history.
13
"A senior administration official said the California pact was an effort to force Americans to buy expensive vehicles that they don’t want or need."
A completely nonsensical statement. Who thinks these things up for them?
13
Trump seems to support air and water pollution and widespread possession of assault rifles catering to special interests that bought his support vs the general welfare of Americans. Trump has intentionally divided America as a racist demagogue to get elected ,while ramming thru a tax cut to benefit himself and his cronies . Trump has shown thru his erratic behavior ,ignorance and absurd conspiracy theories how unfit he is to be president highlighted by his inability to get past his own narcissistic fragile ego.
9
Trump/GOP . "Money;Power;Hate" Number one. People? Number Zero
10
This is another example of Trump winning... the race to the bottom!
13
Well, what did everyone expect? Remember his "Good, clean, coal" speech in West Virginia? He said those words like he was describing a cage full of finches. He would love a coal-powered cellphone to tweet on.
8
Putin, Koch Brothers and MBS aren’t going to be happy with Trump not keeping that carbon burning!
5
I never thought Bizarro World would be such a nasty, ugly place to live, I figured it would be confusing but not torturous.
12
This is so very sweet. As our institutions falter during this Administration, it's reassuring to know that there are some industry players acting as checks and balances against the Trump wrecking ball.
And, as always, thank you California. Keep up the great work!
10
As usual, Trump is more interested in what he wants vs what is good for the country, and, in this case, the auto industry. Trump wants to reverse Obama policy - that's more important to him. A sad display of personal narcissism vs Presidential competence.
7
Another story in today's Times describes a "Statement" by several CEO's basically declaring the end of the old, dominant "The-business-of-business-is-business" mantra. They now accept their companies' accountability to society. In a comment, I pointed out that such a development--if it's real--is an opportunity to make progress on a host of problems plaguing our society. We urgently need some good news these days, and if it comes from a surprising source, so much the better. As reactions from skepticism to cynicism to their announcement is predictable, I urged an open mind in assessing the evidence of their seriousness as it comes in. I pointed out that some earlier evidence of some seriousness exists, although, so far it hasn't done much to change the certainty that businesses, whether intended or not, must be evil. (To be fair, the cases of continued negative business practices, like wealthy companies paying no taxes, does not help to change a prevalent mindset.) I pointed out that the evidence might not always be straight forward. Coral and Hiroko's piece here can be interpreted, ambiguously I concede, as companies (belatedly) doing the right thing. There's also another article in today's Times about a smaller business, a book store, with a moral mission. The evidence of a possible shift in business practices is there--if you look for it. I urge its recognition, encouragement, policy support, and as seen in some other comments, customer preference for these companies.
3
The crucial part this article missed is that some of the car companies who are now supporting the California emissions regs actually encouraged Trump to roll back the regs when he came into office. Which is a classic case of a dog catching a car, and then having to figure out what to do with it.
5
Proud to own two Hondas. They have been great cars and the company is doing the right thing!
6
The consequence of policy dictated by pique. Trump needs to get over the fact that he was, is and will always be considered inferior to Obama. I think we need a referral to a kindergarten teacher so that he can be taught basic skills again (or for the first time?).
8
Obese 73-year-old man, with a history of poor diet and little exercise, presents with disinhibition, confabulation and sudden episodes of rage. What would you test for? What might you suspect?
14
Everyone one of us should let our future car purchases do the talking.
17
@ElectAClown-ExpectACircus Love the handle, although it's a bit mean to circuses!
3
The President of the United States is plotting to retaliate against states and companies trying to do the correct, common sense thing? Unbelievable.
19
If the states and the auto industry are going against the President's initiative then can we please get a statement from him stating who exactly he's doing this for? Would love to hear that bonehead's answer.
8
This below is such an obvious truth. Comes from the posh legislators who blatantly disregard the other states that cannot keep up with them (and they also disregard the army of illegals in their state). What's next for CA? Mandate use of electric cars only? In a couple of years?
"A senior administration official said the California pact was an effort to force Americans to buy expensive vehicles that they don’t want or need. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he called the pact top-down policymaking with California trying to impose its standard on 49 other states. "
@ss Those cheap states need to rollback to Horse and Buggy!!! That would be the cheapest way for those rural states (that California supports) to travel on their crumbled infrastructure that Trump promised to fix.
2
Another sign that the "very stable genius" in the White House isn't so "stable." And he certainly is no "genius."
9
Climate change deniers like Trump are running into a sad reality of actual (versus alternative) facts; many businesses cannot survive if they operate in a fantasy land. The "it's not happening," "it's not bad,", "it's not our fault" and "it's too expensive to fix" arguments go nowhere if your job is to actually make a profit beyond next month, or to protect the nation's borders or infrastructure beyond next month, or decide where to live beyond next month, or pretty much to do anything longer term.
No matter what rules and regulations the Trump administration wants to follow, people and corporations are going to do what they perceive to be in their own best interests, and that's going to involve admitting to the realities of climate change and acting accordingly.
Of course, Trump will succeed in allowing a handful of companies, like coal producers and other fossil fuel creators, to protect their profits while making things worse instead of better for the rest of us, but overall the oh-so highly touted "free market" that conservatives love to invoke is going to do exactly what it is best at; make generally good decisions for society and the economy as a whole, in spite of corrupt, ignorant, arrogant, short-sighted and foolish politicians who wish to make a quick, short-term profit by purposely making wrong ones.
4
Whatever Pa Trump paid to get his kid a degree from Wharton...
he got taken.
We're the ons paying for it.
10
So much for states rights, Mr. President. What kind of a person tries to roll back mileage and pollution standards purely out of spite? What a small, petty person Mr Trump is.
15
Par for the course for any Republican; they are all about states' rights and less federal control ... until they aren't. Not unlike the way Justice Scalia was a so-called "textualist" until it didn't suit his agenda. The majority in the Heller decision on gun rights is a perfect example.
3
"Mr. Trump, described by three people as enraged by ... " (Fill in the blank with any of dozens of issues) The man is unhinged.
13
More predictions from those whose predictive abilities have consistently been wrong. Reading the NYTs for the last two years seeing all of the writers pontificate and then be wrong so often is entertaining.
So does Trump wake up every morning, with a goal to be the worst person he can, every day?
9
The Legion of Doom strikes again defying market demands to force MORE pollution. It's like DC comic villain Lex Luthor is the president. Que evil cackle: Hmmm what's the most backwards, illogical, corrupt, dysfunctional move to make... I know! Lower pollution standards even though the auto manufacturers don't want it...must pollute air!
Because his base wants dirty air and high prices at the pump? Makes so much sense. Maybe a Don Junior tweet will make sense of this.
6
Who would have thought we would ever see the day when the government is fighting for the right to increase air pollution against some of the major car companies? Trump's perverse policies are infuriating. We MUST vote him out next year and send him to jail where he belongs.
6
The automakers are also showing how likely they think it is that Trump will be re elected, and whether his policies and executive orders will survive beyond his term in office. They also don’t want their products to be irreparably stained with the pro-trump label that could destroy their market appeal where it counts most, younger college educated buyers with higher incomes. From the standpoint of complicated regulation that impacts a big population in a highly competitive global industry, trump is already a lame duck president.
Other industries should take note, publicly betting on a likely loser is no way to win market share. No one wants a cowardly liar to be the public face of their products.
4
Only in a Trump-world does it make more sense for a manufacturer to side with tighter regulations on the products they make.
4
Why on Earth would this administration be lobbying auto manufacturers to support a rule that benefits them? This makes no sense, and makes it seem like Trump is just trying to literally destroy the environment, in as mean spirited a way as possible. It's cruelty for cruelty's sake. I for one will never buy a car from an automaker that goes along with this.
738
@purpledog Completely agree! We have 2 Toyotas in our family and a Honda. I am actively trying to contact Toyota, hopefully in a social media fashion so others can be aware, to advocate for joining CA. Not only am I concerned about environmental impacts, but purchasing a vehicle can be an act of economic disobedience against this administration. Should Toyota decide to side with Trump, consider me sayōnara.
84
@purpledog, it makes no sense unless you understand that Trump hates Barack Obama, and rolling back any and every regulation Obama enacted is his revenge against his personal enemy.
125
@Stephen Holland Exactly. Donald Trump's entire Presidency is just revenge for President Obama making fun of him at the 2011 White House Correspondent's Dinner. Anything Obama did has to go, no matter what it is.
97
It is just astonishing how the United States Congress, specifically the Republican caucuses, can stand idly by as their president pulls all these shenanigans, one after another.
Are they so enthralled by this guy as to be completely out of touch with what Americans want for themselves and their kids? Trump and the Republicans seem determined to swim against the current of history. And they will pay for it.
The age of hydrocarbons is at the beginning of the end. The world works to relieve itself of total dependence on coal, oil, and gas and sooner or later it will. Alternative and affordable mass sources of energy are just over the horizon.
Car manufacturers know this, too. Just look at the sales of hybrids and all-electrics. That's where the future is in that business.
6
I am a devoted Toyota owner, but if they bow to pressure from this administration, I will leave them in a heartbeat. Not kidding. There are many good cars to choose from by these other manufacturers that value the environment over Trump.
18
Same here. I’ll boycott any manufacturer that doesn’t go with California’s rules.
6
Living in California, I'm proud the state took the initiative it did, and now other states have joined on. And thank you to Ford, VW, Honda, BMW, and now MBZ for taking the lead with California.
17
Every day he becomes more pixilated as another evil enemy from Batman set out to destroy the world.
Except this cartoon president is so terrifyingly real.
12
New York Times: please keep us informed as to when other auto makers sign onto the California pact.
17
Well, this helps my decision which manufacturer to look at for a new car.......
The "Toyota Sell-A-Bration" may become the "Toyota Sell-Out" to Trump.
8
I’d been seriously thinking about getting a Honda hybrid but after reading this there is no doubt in my mind that I will be doing just that!
7
When it comes to climate change, the White House is irrelevant. With car companies investing billions in capital with returns over a decade or longer they base their decisions on customer desires and global competition. They are more loyal to their shareholders than the President's political agenda.
7
"At one White House meeting, Mr. Trump went so far as to propose scrapping his own rollback plan and keeping the Obama regulations, while still revoking California’s legal authority to set its own standards, according to the three people familiar with the meeting. The president framed it as a way to retaliate against both California and the four automakers in California’s camp, those people said."
Why would a US president feel that "retaliation" was the proper response to the auto industry complying willingly with California regulations that help reduce pollution, energy consumption, and consumer costs while helping to maintain commercial and economic stability? It makes no sense, unless you are Trump.
16
@Leithauser
“Retaliation” against an actual US state by the actual US president. So very messed up.
1
Thank you to the auto manufacturers who are signing a pact with California. I, for one, appreciate your leadership on this. Like others, I too will be very disappointed if Toyota is strong-armed by the current administration. I have been a loyal customer for 40 years yet can reassure you that if they do not sign on, I will not even consider a Toyota. And that's not a threat - it's a promise.
19
How out of touch is this maladministration. The planet is in crisis, and even auto-makers/ oil companies acknowledge more needs to be done, but the Trump maladministration wants to INCREASE pollution. It's just beyond farce.
Thank goodness for California and other sensible States.
25
Well I know my next car with either be a Honda, Ford, BMW, VW or a Mercedes. The American consumers need to demand from automakers that increase standards for pollution and gas mileage.
14
"Toyota, Fiat Chrysler and General Motors were all summoned by a senior Trump adviser to a White House meeting last month where he pressed them to stand by the president’s own initiative, according to four people familiar with the talks."
While Trump and Republicans try to paint the Democrats as Socialists they are acting like Communists.
I didn't know that corporations were owned by the federal government (it's more the other way around).
22
Apparently Trump is a "SOCIALIST!" After all, the GOP defines Socialists as politicians that want to control the economy and everything about their citizens' lives. Example? He wants to control what automobile manufacturers make, even though the manufacturers themselves want to do something else.
26
This’s is an example of why we can never be allowed see the Presidents tax returns or business records and why he has failed so many times in business. He has the most uncanny ability to make the worst choices at the least opportune time of anyone I have ever seen.
Who in their right mind would want to give up the efficiency of a modern car engine. They run better, last longer and save the user so much in operating cost that returning to lower standards is really kind of hard to imagine anyone thinking it up.
The President does not like California. It did not support him in the election. Therefore they must be taught a lesson. Of corse the oil companies would welcome an increase in consumption. He does not believe greenhouse gases are causing climate change. The auto manufacturers have invested heavily in cleaner more efficient cars. Backing up would cost them as much or more then continuing on the present corse and cost them untold amounts in litigation with states that do not want the standards lowered. And last but certainly not least it would roll back another Obama era policy.
All in all a perfect storm of incompetence fueled by the desire to satisfy his base to get re-elected.
This from a man whose only real talents are marketing and doing the wrong thing at the worst time.
It is not in the best interest of the nation.
28
I’ve had a Toyota since the 1980s and if they don’t speak up and go with California their lead in the automotive sales will plummet. Trump is a dinosaur and we know how they ended up.
26
" In Disarray'? Trump's term has been in disarray from day one. I'm surprised anyone notices any more -well except for the threat of worldwide recession, ever-increasing global warming and the stock market plunge.
7
Even Trump should understand that car manufacturers will never "go back" to building less efficient vehicles as they have spent billions in research bringing to market what us consumers want, fuel efficient, comfy, low emissions, and "fun ride" cars.
Yes, let us turn back the clock to those 1970s huge, horribly driving, gas hog, toxic emitting muffler cars with that old air pollution in LA that made your eyes burn, said no one ever.
14
This sad out-of-touch administration will be the last to force their ghastly policies on US. Clean Air and Water are a human right. Fighting climate change (they are not even aware it's real), and ways to protect the environment (humans & animals) and move forward with clean technologies will be up to the young and better educated. Affordable Health care, and Education will do the rest. Just like the dinosaurs, old mean spirited republicans have had their day. Perhaps some will be found frozen in ice in a few millennium!
6
Trump's regulatory changes on cars is wrong headed. It has sowed confusion. The EPA cannot justify it. All so a single person's animus to Obama can drag yet another necessary Obama action out of existence. The ACA, Paris Climate Change Accord, the Iran Nuclear Deal, the Asia Pacific Trade Deal, anything that Obama put in place has to go. Trump and his cronies and ideologues who he has put in charge of this thing have shown that even when clueless they forge blindly ahead.
6
I don't understand. Were they calling companies asking them to pollute MORE?
The tRump administration shouldn't be trusted with grownup cutlery, much less the nation's environmental protections.
20
You can pull up videos of Teslas blowing Lamborghinis off the line in drag races. Harley Davidson, HARLEY DAVIDSON! has built an electric super bike that is coming on line. Battery technology gets cheaper, lighter and faster to charge. The charging network grows exponentially. The entire concept of range anxiety will be gone in about a year. You want performance? You want electric. You want low maintenance? You want electric. And, very soon, if you want inexpensive, you will want electric.
The purpose of government intervention used to be on the side of new technologies that needed an economic nudge to get going. The republican party, particularly the current iteration of it wishes to continue to intervene on the behalf of obsolete technology. This is the worst part of conservatism: not just allowing marketplace determinism, but to assist entrenched interests for political gain. It is as if we allowed the manufacturers of horse shoes in 1900 to determine the fate of the automobile. The highly unstable genius Elon Musk's top down economic approach to revolutionizing the auto industry is working. Don't allow the fossilized republican party to sabotage it.
7
@runaway - We have free recharging stations in my neighborhood now and I was talking to a Tesla owner one day while he recharged. By the time he was done, I was completely sold on them. He told me that 6 months after he bought his, his dad went and bought one, too.
His only "complaint" about the car? Was that it was soooooo dang quiet compared to a standard motor that it took him a long time to get used to actually hearing all of the sounds on the road while driving.
4
This action, or rather actions, by the current administration will not play well with the Trump base. They are as susceptible to the changes in CO2 in the air caused by auto emissions caused by automobile exhaust as the rest of the world, and in fact the weather in the areas his base lives are suffering more from climate change than other parts of America. Moreover, none of the EU countries will ever buy American Cars again if this foolishness is carried through. Europe is suffering far more than the United States from changes in their weather.
I don't really believe that any scientific thinking or input has gone into these actions of the Trump Administration. There is going to be an increase in economic disruption caused by these environmental rule changes, and his tariffs
5
Let me them sell yesterday’s technology meanwhile , electric power will rule the future. Also in car crazy California. So let’s see How Detroit builds cars only for Detroit.
3
Trump seems to spend a great deal of his time enraged (as reported here) -- it may even be his normal rest state, the opposite of most human beings.
12
Wasn't Trump touting his environmental credentials just a week ago? WOW!
7
I own a Prius Prime and am very disappointed to see Toyota missing from the pact. I will write to them today.
NYTimes please stay on this story and let us know when other makers join with California (including mystery company #6).
10
If Obama had seen what was coming, he could have just initiated every bad policy imaginable, knowing that out of spite, Trump would have reversed him. Petty spite is what drives this president; it's not ideology or even just politics, but a desire to undo everything that his predecessor did to fulfill a personal vendetta. His ego was wounded by Obama and he'll never get over it.
12
The headline should read, shows signs of Trump's handing. Anything Trump handles turns into disarray.
2
To the folks who think it’s their God-given right to drive a gas-guzzling, CO2 spewing vehicle, I asked: what is your plan for addressing climate change?
At this point in history, if you still choose to ignore established science, there’s no reason to listen to anything you have to say.
5
My next car will be electric, and I'm buying wind power only.
1
Act, then think...same as usual incompetence. Great to score one the environment!
3
I have a suspicion these nonsensical fuel efficiency rollbacks nobody asked for have Koch brothers written all over them. The same guys who are manipulating people into voting against public transport infrastructure investments through advertising lies.
7
Car companies know that Presidents come and go, but that trends from better fuel efficiency and more electrics are what consumers want, and other countries are increasingly demanding.
Trump will eventually go, and his brain-dead sycophants with him, but new administrations will certainly revert back to Obama standards for the planet -- and the planet polls very well with people who live on it.
8
The sign up is mostly foreign automakers - not US
From the Detroit Free Press July 25, 2019
(intro talk about markets, then )
"Those changing conditions involve the relatively low price of gas and the apparent consumer shift away from small cars to SUVs and trucks. "
GM also issued a statement that did not appear to take a position on the deal.
"We are driving toward a future of zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion. As we have stated, the pathway includes continuously improving fuel economy and our commitment to an all-electric future. Our focus remains on working with all parties on a solution that would involve a 50-state solution and a national electric vehicle program," said Jeannine Ginivan, a GM spokeswoman."
---
Weasel words. Truth is that GM , bailed out by the US tax payer never fully repaid, is not participating. GM will pump out more giant gas guzzling pickups and SUVs , domestic production protected by a 25% import tariff since 1964.
4
@Carl
The good news is we the consumers are not required to buy GM products.
Well, not yet anyway. No one knows what the next Executive Diktat will be but I'm sure it will be genius and very stable.
1
Trump's defiance against climate change and the major contribution to it from automobile exhaust is dumbfounding and it makes me just as angry as Trump seems to be.
Trump lives and rules as an Emperor who decides by his gut, routinely contradicts advisers, knows no science at all, and has decided that he can tell that "Climate Change" doesn't exist. He is so obdurate that he flies into a rage if those words are found in any Federal document.
The Emperor is now in a rage that states, California and 12 others, and auto makers have decided to ignore Trump's ignorant edicts.
Trump actually acts as if his belief on the subject can change reality. Delusional is the right word.
Yet the global warming predictions are coming true. And the predictions are based on the same level of science that transmits Trump's tweets, allows him to view Fox News, and define the engineering to construct Trump Towers.
10
If Obama’s standards go into effect, this will cut my fuel costs by 50%!!! Why in the world wouldn’t I support the increase in mileage standards? What is Trump thinking?.
8
Every Republican who has vocally supported this, or who is silent, should be made accountable ...
6
Trump is a mighty big believer in the so-called right to pollute. He would, I'm sure, fly off to wherever a river catches fire again -- on the taxpayer's dime, of course.
5
Compared with the Federal government, California is showing some leadership. But if Californians and their leaders really cared about the climate crisis, they would be making massive investments in public transportation and figuring out how to put oil and auto companies out of business. It's tough because CA manufactures cars and is a petro state itself.
@Vote with your pocketbook
True story you're telling there however....
California has been attempting major investment in public transit and renewable energy with a few successes and a whole lot of opposition from the usual suspects.
The Trumpinista's and Koch minions have killed what could have been the first leg of a nationwide high speed rail line and do you remember Trump and Kevin McCarthy (allegedly representing California) talking about law suits and withholding funding for future infrastructure projects?
That's kind of where we're at with all that.
1
@Vote with your pocketbook Jerry ran into a lot of pushback on high-speed rail. Somehow a lot of folks we can't afford to do what France and Japan and China have done. So much for Amrerican leadership.
1
I'm not about to purchase any product, including vehicles, from companies that roll over for Trump, especially when it supports his mission to block efforts to combat climate change.
9
Can't wait for the new Honda Resist to hit the showrooms. They'll sell a million of them.
4
Compliance with the California clean-air regulations may very well cost consumers more, but as against breathing clean air they're a bargain.
4
“Mr. Trump, described by three people as enraged by California’s deal with Mercedes; BMW; Honda; Ford; Volkswagen on emissions rollbacks.”
That scene alone is worth the cost of admission. What is with Toyota; Chrysler; and General Motors? Curious that all the German companies got right on the wagon.
8
Part of the zero emissions / electric car solution must include building new failsafe Gen IV nuclear power plants . While renewables are “cute” they lack the energy density and return on energy investment (especially after storage is factored into the loss equation) to supply more than half of our energy demands.
1
This is an honest question. Who (other than this whacky administration) is in favor of easing emission standards for cars? Is there a coalition of 'dirty air' enthusiasts that meet regularly that I'm not aware of. When consumers, automakers, sane government entities and most everyone think standards are a good idea.....who is on the other side? Anyone?
7
As a graduate engineering student, I worked at a GM plant in the mid-80's after CAFE (fuel efficiency) standards were imposed in 1978. The company was hemorrhaging market share as consumers flocked to more fuel-efficient vehicles. A senior engineer summed up the situation thusly "The Big Three (automakers) hired 2,000 lawyers to stop it (CAFE) while the Japanese hired 2,000 engineers to accomplish it."
23
@Todd Hudson
Thanks for that, Todd.
2
Even automotive executives have families who breath the air. I'm surprised Trump has mandated coal burning cars.
15
Republicans have no problem with Texas dictating school textbook standards for the rest of the country. I see no problem with letting California dictate energy efficiency standards, especially considering the amount they drive. States rights for all!
32
How extraordinary to have Federal policy based on an effort by the current occupant of the White House to stick a thumb in his predecessor's eye! As a consumer I am becoming ever more political with my purchasing decisions: car manufacturers who turn their backs on this latest WH temper tantrum will get my business.
It's not just car manufacturers: We heard, with fanfare, how CEO's are going to shift their attitude toward workers, consumers, and the environment. I intend to follow this closely and will act accordingly. Those companies that put their money where their mouths are, that pay their workers living wages, that lobby in favor of a progressive, reasonable, and sustainable tax system, that stop despoiling the planet, and that join California and other states in their efforts to be responsible and future-oriented are the companies that I intend to support through both my purchasing and my investment decisions. I bet I'm not alone.
15
I'd hope that the automakers are motivated by something less crass than profit. Rationally, though, they probably expect that the federal regulatory rollback is a temporary aberration. They may as well start adhering to California's stricter standards now, because the EPA will be revived in some future administration.
6
Toyota has shared the plug-in hybrid technology from its Prius Prime (and portions from the RAV4 Hybrid) with Subaru as a starting point for the 2019 Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid.
( Toyota owns 16%of Subaru.)
3
@Jean Then why in the world would Toyota be on the Side of Trump's fossil fuel plans?
I am concerned about the fact that so many advisers and people with experience are leaving this sinking ship called the Trump Administration. "In the Trump administration, three senior political officials working on the rollback, a complex legal and scientific process, have all left the administration recently." Now a 29 year old with little experience is in charge. This is happening across the government. "The best people" are turning their backs on the President, and sadly, the rest of us suffer for it.
26
Simple. I won’t be buying a car from any company that follows Trump’s increased pollution policy.
22
I'll go you one better: I'll buy my next new vehicle only after President Dickiedoo leaves office. (Google it.)
2
The underlying issue for so many of these stories regarding Trump Administration actions is that over the last eight to ten decades, through both Republican and Democratic Administrations and Congresses, power has shifted more and more from the Legislative to the Executive Branch.
In general, when there is a President people like, they have rooted for him to have the power to do what they want. They ignore the fact that the power will continue to reside there, when there is a President they don't like.
Meanwhile, Congress has ceded much of its Constitutional power and responsibility to Presidents. Most notably, Congress' most "sacred" Constitutional authority and responsibility, the declaring of war, has been totally ignored, the war-making authority handed over to Presidents, even as Congress funded undeclared wars in Korea, Viet Nam, Afghanistan, and Iraq which have killed around 100,000 Americans.
Unless Americans elect Representatives and Senators of whatever party who are absolutely pledged to reasserting Congressional oversight and authority in practice, nothing will change. Trump and whoever follows him will continue to be able to do much of whatever he or she pleases without developing the legislative consensus necessary for a functioning democracy.
16
Two take aways here.
The first would be State's Rights that oh so sacred cow the Republicans roll out any time we talk about gun regulation, voting rights or health care. How it doesn't apply to environmental regulation is a mystery to me.
The second is the red herring about consumer cost. New technologies always become less expensive with time. That extra $3,300 per vehicle is more likely going to be a result of ill conceived tariffs on steel and parts manufactured off shore.
On a completely separate note; once again it becomes apparent that many governments and businesses would rather deal with Sacramento than DC. Can we please start a serious conversation about secession?
28
In reverse order:
1, no, we really can’t.
2. Because that $3300 is described as what TRUMP would cost, not what the better standards would cost.
3. See also debt and deficit.
1
What we are seeing is people moving on without, and in spite of, the Trump's or Republicans. Foreign countries don't follow our wishes, California negotiates its own clean air rules, Planned Parenthood decides to jettison the Republicans. So Trump and the Republicans can huff and puff but they are left talking to themselves. The world has decided to move on and we all will be the better for it.
33
It mentioned in the article is the fact that General Motors and Volkswagen will skip hybrids in order to focus on going fully electric.
GM has said it will launch 20 all-electric models by 2023, including U.S.-market models for Chevrolet and Cadillac.
VW has planned a family of electric cars based on its new MEB platform, including a reincarnated Microbus that’s due in 2022, and reportedly will also offer electric versions of Audi and Porsche.
7
Our farming is affected due to poor rain and less water, These lands are now used to produce salt. This is because of the co2 from big factories and vehicles. The Co2 from vehicles are sources are the major reason breathing problems for many people in cities who needs medication. These vehicles and factories should use the proper filter with water to create oxygen. This will avoid the climate change and help people.
3
Here's the thing--car makers have already invested--a lot--in making cars more efficient and less polluting. Those investments are only starting to come to fruition. Hybrids and electrics are getting better, and even ICE's are becoming more efficient and less polluting.
Trump, by reducing the standards, is decimating the value of those investments.
But the car makers have no choice. The US is not the only country that buys cars; other countries, particularly in Europe, are demanding lower emissions. By lowering standards, all that Trump is doing is making US manufacturers less competitive.
So much winning...
42
While I think the administration is putting vindictiveness over science, the reality is that none of this really matters. The rest of the world is pushing to eliminate gasoline-powered cars over the next few years, so most automakers will stop making them altogether. Any remaining gasoline cars will be made only for the US market and will be far more expensive than those made to be sold globally.
26
Some of us rely on gasoline and Diesel engine vehicles for the range. There is no way I can make all these Trump rallies with and electric vehicle. There are not enough charging stations along the way and I aint missin any rallies.
3
@RS
Evolving beyond gas and electric is all about range, too---length of life, that is.
Like you, I am waiting for more miles per charge, but holding down the amount of particulate matter I breathe in California and the number of weather-related disasters you have in Missouri seems like the right path to take.
2
Simple solution. You can route a hose from the exhaust of your vehicle directly to your mouth and pretend you’re vaping while you’re driving to those rallies.
When you think outside of the box you can solve more than one problem at a time!
2
If that’s the case, then increased fuel efficiency makes more sense. Right?
More rallies with fewer fill ups. Seems your boy Trump is selling you a bum deal.
When you buy a Twinkie or some other agricultural product it very often has a reference to the Pennsylvania Dept. of Agriculture on the wrapper, because by complying with the PA rules the makers of those products meet everyone else's too.
Republicans are fine with this.
When Texas passes some law about school textbooks -- say, one downplaying slavery or preaching the Bible -- the size of the TX market forces book publishers to comply nationwide.
Republicans are fine with this.
But let California regulate clean air, and better mileage, for automobiles and suddenly Republican are up in arms.
Do Republicans not like clean air and cheaper operating cars? Because they certainly seem fine with states forcing other states to go along in a lot of other areas.
42
I never thought I'd be on the side of states rights, but here I am. In my state, California, we now make our own rules separate from the federal government. This is not secession, but we are testing the waters for more independence as a state. After all, we're the fifth largest economy in the world; we have power and we should use to benefit our citizens here in California. I know that our governor, Gavin Newsom, is seeking ways to make California an outstanding leader advocating for what is right in terms of all people here.
40
Californians make their wants known via the ballot box. We call it democracy.
2
@Thomas Becker Without a link to back you up on this very serious allegation you appear to be a crank.
If you got a link post it, if not....
6
Well, what about Toyota, GM , and Fiat Chrysler. The article did not seem to make it clear as to whether or not those companies caved in the Trump meeting. I'd like to know what's happening with them, and what their intentions are. Impacts future car-buying.
16
The U.S. auto industry has a history of waiting until the last minute to deliver fuel efficiency improvements dictated by market conditions and/or regulation. That history has not served the industry well and has typically led to significant losses and declining market share.
The car manufacturers are actually being proactive this time. Regardless of the government regulatory standard, the auto companies seemingly are willingly moving toward fuel efficiency in advance of a crisis situation, rather than in reaction to one. Yet, the government is actively trying to reverse the course the companies prefer? It seems clear that the government position has nothing to do with the auto industry. I wonder what industry is driving the Trump admin position.
10
@JS
Who benefits from climate change denial and oil consumption? I know Rex Tillerson has been gone for a while, but the Big Oil crony infestation has been there long before and after.
2
The fossil fuel industry is driving the trump administration plus trump’s desire to undo anything smart, good and in line with combating climate change and good-for-public health implemented by Obama.
Uh. How about the oil industry for starters?
I live in a southern state that is heavily dependent on oil and gas revenue. (Some pickup drivers here like to play a game called 'rolling-the-coal' where they pull in front of a hybrid/electric car and let out a big belch of diesel smoke). I currently drive a 6-cylinder Asian made sedan but am seriously considering an all-electric (BMW, Volt, Tesla, etc) or possibly a Prius for my next purchase. Can't wait to thumb my nose at the gas pumps as I drive by.
41
@ElectAClown-ExpectACircus
I live in a Union border state that has plenty of "good old boy" coal rollers. They can roll all the coal they want, they are still paying $60-$80 for a full tank, so we know who the real losers are here.
8
@RadoDrums Deep down inside they know it themselves, which just make them even angrier. Too bad evolution is so darn slow!
5
I'll need a new car soon to replace my trusty 2009 Volvo with 194,000 miles on it. I was thinking of a fun Jeep now that we are empty nesters, but since Fiat/Chrysler didn't join the California emissions rules, there's no way I'd buy from them. They can keep selling Hemi Challengers to NASCAR fanboys who don't care about emissions or climate change. I'll shop from the list of companies that did the right thing. Even Volkswagen, the most notorious polluter of all, signed on.
24
Where is GM ? Bailed out by the US taxpayer
It is not listed.
19
@Carol
I thought the closing of those plants in Ohio and Ontario were being done so they could focus on the building of electric cars? The fact remains with plant closings around the world, domestic auto makers in NA are falling behind and becoming strictly that, "domestic" automakers and nothing more all because they can no longer compete globally.
The "writing is on the wall" despite what Trump and his Republican cronies believe and climate change is all part of the tsunami that will be occurring in transportation in the coming years. Clinging to fossil fuels and the resistance to facing the reality that is already occurring will ultimately cost the American economy millions of jobs.
13
Let’s not get too carried away with praising the automakers who finally caved, and that’s what they did, to California’s power and superior grasp of reality.
Do not forget that as soon as Trump was elected they ran, literally ran to him begging him to reverse the same standards to which they’ve now capitulated. As soon as they sensed a window to give a metaphorical middle finger to California, our environment, our children’s future, and especially to Obama, they couldn’t wait to grab that opportunity and were giddy as they paraded into the Trump White House to do so. Only after they discovered what the rest of us knew long before 2016, that Trump is an incompetent, narcissistic fool, did they finally realize they would lose their biggest market and prestigious standing in the global economy.
I will never buy new again and put profits directly into these traitors’ coffers.
10
Dear detroit -- Keep making cars people don't want, or the ones people say in these comments they want. That's not what the suburban family with 2.2 kids want. The readership of the NY Times generally can't afford parking in Manhattan and the boroughs, let alone a car. These are people who at 16 typically focus more on mastering how to ride the subway without getting pick-pocketed than how to parallel park. And Californians are basically divided between the mega-rich, and scofflaws (who do things like live in illegally converted "garage conversion" apartments because they can't afford a proper apartment, let alone an urban parking space. The more California and Urban NY try to marginalize the rest of America, the more directly we are headed into a crisis that is going to rehape human society in ways far more fundamental than a few receding ice shelves and some displaced people from "such wonderful island cultures" that nobody heard of before.
2
@Gene
"An E.P.A. assessment of the 2017 Honda CR-V, THE BEST-SELLING S.U.V. IN THE COUNTRY THAT YEAR, showed the car is set to meet 2022 Obama-era targets five years ahead of schedule."
Americans are sure buying a lot of those cars they don't want.
5
@Gene Speak for yourself but don't speak for the rest of the MidWest. Perhaps you liked the smog filled days of seeing the air you breathed and watching the Cuyahoga burn but many of us, especially parents with 2.2 kids would like to see that those kids don't live on a dying planet. Further, most of the fuel savings is going to come from things like advanced composites and under the hood technology.
3
Please take a step back from hyperbolic nonsense like “California and Urban New York want to marginalize real America”.
It’s not reality, it’s not helping anything other than making people angry and anxious.
1
Just remember Toyota, Fiat Chrysler and General Motors, extortion never ends.
8
"At one White House meeting, Mr. Trump went so far as to propose scrapping his own rollback plan and keeping the Obama regulations, while still revoking California’s legal authority to set its own standards, according to the three people familiar with the meeting. The president framed it as a way to retaliate against both California and the four automakers in California’s camp, those people said."
Translation: Trump cares more about personal vendettas than about policy or working for the American people.
36
It appears that the automakers, like the rest of the world, sees Trump as a temporary aberration to be endured--a break in the often spastic upward march of civilization--that will eventually pass. They are making their decisions based on science and facts, not emotion and magical thinking. The market is working.
23
Why would U.S. Automakers reverse their adherence to the Clean Air Act? Why would the U.S. Automakers not continue to produce cars that conserve fuel?! They would have to retrofit their factories and their equipment! Costly, and inefficient because soon We, the People, will put new leadership in place to attempt to address the ....Climate Emergency!
Seems absolutely idiotic for U.S. Automakers to listen to Republican president!
12
"The administration’s efforts to weaken the Obama-era pollution rules could be rendered irrelevant if too many automakers join California before the Trump plan can be put into effect."
Perhaps if the information-averse Trump and his harried courtiers trying to please him had read and followed the news for decades, they would know that California has led the way to cleaner air and less pollution by setting its own more stringent standards to sell products in the heavily populated state.
For example, we went went to buy a garden hose at the hardware store years ago & were deciding between two hoses. The store owner said that one hose met California environmental standards but the other hose could not be sold in California. We bought the California hose.
And given we have a president and his regime that is determined to increase degradation and pollution of the environment and doesn't care a whit about people, the health of the citizenry, or the well being of future generations, then let's jut ignore him and his twitter-brain bad judgment and policies.
That is what is happening here in our poor air quality, red state UT. Local towns and communities are busily converting to better and cheaper renewable energy. Even nearby Wyoming, long dominated by mining and fracking, has excellent conditions for wind power and is quickly shifting to wind power farms
Ironic perhaps: It is likely to be market forces & common sense that trump businessman Trump's evil policies
Vote No Trump
11
Kiss this one goodbye Donny. Just wave a different shiny object for your very smart and clever base... How about something that Mexico is going to pay for! Seriously - what kind of idiot would purchase a car that could not be inspected in all 50 states? That uses outdated technology? That costs more to own? Well maybe you (genious that you are) ... but who else? Make Pollution Great Again!
29
Assuming this is being accurately reported, has there ever been a more incoherent mess than this?
"At one White House meeting, Mr. Trump went so far as to propose scrapping his own rollback plan and keeping the Obama regulations, while still revoking California’s legal authority to set its own standards, according to the three people familiar with the meeting. The president framed it as a way to retaliate against both California and the four automakers in California’s camp, those people said."
10
"For automakers, they say, it makes more sense to try to remain globally competitive by building more sophisticated vehicles as the world market moves toward more efficient cars. " That pretty much says it all. Trump wants the US to secede from the earth and so is not interested in the fact that nearly all major corporations are not US bound, but international in their scope. Why would a car manufacturer want to design a dirty car for the US when they are already building cleaner vehicles for the world? Trump's desire to return to the world of his childhood is not compatible with any real world viewpoint.
6
Real families need large vehicles. They need to be affordable and get good gas mileage. Minivans are incredibly expensive, use way too much gas, and are of poor quality. I just returned my Pacifica under the lemon law. But my family needs a big car. A moon shot where practical, affordable, efficient vehicles for real families are developed would be an incredible boon for society and the planet.
2
The Pacifica plug-in hybrid is quite efficient. It has 40 miles of electric only driving, and gets around 35 (to 40) mpg on gas.
6
I have one - it’s a great car. I rarely buy gas and can go anywhere.
2
In their efforts to make Trump a one term President the Democrats seem to have found an unlikely ally. President Trump.
8
Our sad sack president just cannot let go of his deep hatred for President Obama. Let us all breathe bad air, why should trump care. After all, he no doubt has less than a decade to live. It's on your folks. Breathe deeply.
7
Government by spite and retaliation. Trump was”furious”. Is this kindergarten?
10
Seems we've got our pick of how that idiot plans to destroy the planet - war with China, war with North Korea, war with the Middle East, global warming, air pollution, environmental disasters, pandemics, etc.
15
Truly remarkable proof that Donald Trump is stacking up to be the Dumbest President of all times. Not a nice guy, a crook that is in the pocket of oil interests outside of this country such as his Saudi Arabian friends. Selling out his country that he claims to love for his own benefit. He may think that's smart, but in the final analysis he will be remembered as being incredibly self centered for the short term gain and ignorant of his opportunity to do something truly great for our country and the world. What a dumb guy.
10
What a ridiculous plan.
Sheer vengeance.
6
The only reason Trump wants to roll back the automobile fuel efficiency/auto pollution standards from the Obama administration is because Barack Obama is still much more popular in public opinion polls than Donald Trump. This is all about Trump. The decision of a psychopathic narcissist. Trump cares nothing about anything other than Donald J. Trump.
10
@RLW don’t forget the White House correspondents dinner when Obama made some seriously hilarious jokes that Donnie was the punch line for.
" It also found the rollback would increase the nation’s oil consumption by 320 billion gallons."
That's the whole point; him & his co conspirators will make all kinds of funny money. Arctic open for drilling. Ancient tribal lands open for drilling. The whole coast of the US (except for FL's waiver) open for drilling.
It's the money, stupid.
8
The hapless so called "Green Party" told their follows that Trump and Clinton were the "same" in 2016.
Was that candidate just a demagogue?
7
I’ll never forgive them and Jill Stein for getting Trump elected. Never. Ever.
2
@Trombenik or Bernie for not ceding to Hillary in a timely manner.
1
The Trump administration really seems like its just attempting to reverse everything Obama has done throughout this era. What happened to trying to better America overall?
9
@G
Can the Republicans and their supporters tell us why they like dirty air? Do their children not go outside and try to breathe? Does this president not have grandchildren that deserve clean air?
10
It is great to see corporate leadership in front of the current policy position of the administration. The administration has been much to focused on subsidizing fossil fuels for political purposes rather than the environmental policy leadership this country is capable of. The lack of understanding the science and the pulse of the country is astonishing (on a daily basis). The corporate leaders may not necessarily agree that higher standards are better, but their customers and state governments that are impacted by the side-effects of pollution do and are motivating companies to consider the other "stakeholders" of their organizations. This is a step in the right direction!
3
It's heartening to see States and major players in the auto industry come up with a work around for the trump administration's disregard for the devastating environmental impact of their "slash regulations at all cost" policies.
5
I woke up this morning to this wonderful news! Can we have more of these and more often, please?
5
...and speaking of the Trump administration interfering with states’ efforts to safeguard their residents’ safety and health, the Federal Railway Administration has just promulgated a rule that forbids individual states from requiring railroads to use two-person crews on trains that travel through cities, across farmland, and along waterways. And everywhere else. There’s a spooky symetry to the idea of a lone sleep-deprived locomotive engineer in charge of 15,000 tons of the very same crude oil that would power the gas guzzlers Trump is trying to force the auto makers to build, and which he’s bullying the states to accept. So many of Trump’s “ideas” involve a similar layering of retribution, malfeasance, and ignorance: these are but two.
6
Even though we like to blame Trump for this mess please remember that it was Obama who started it. Trump is just trying to make things great again.
1
That darn Obama, always trying to act rationally in the public interest. Why, the man actually thought it’d be better to work out a national energy plan that made a lick of sense, allowed carmakers to plan for the future, cut gas consumption, and gave people better gas mileages.
That darn Obama.
24
@RS
Of course, you realize that if this law had been enacted by the Trump administration, it would be the greatest law ever enacted in the US. This president's envy of Obama knows no bounds. Terrifying to see a grown person so needy that he cannot acknowledge that Obama ever did anything good.
1
@RS
So...clean air is bad? And pollution-belching vehicles make America great again?
President Trump is setting up GM and Fiat-Chrysler for failure and bankruptcy again, lets hope they learned their lessons.
6
In the consumer market there is no electoral college, no proportional representation, just “one buyer one vote” taking place in the market. Ever wonder what would happen to Trump in such a world? This is your answer: he gets crushed. Remove the Senate and the outsized power of reactionary rural states and Trump is bupkis: a joke we can just ignore.
7
The Obama auto emission standards, laudable, progressive, are regrettably increasingly irrelevant as Americans switch to gas guzzling pick up trucks and giant SUV (technically classified as light trucks), model, # sold
1. Ford F-Series - 909,330
2. Chevrolet Silverado - 585,581
3. Dodge Ram - 536,980
The best selling passenger car ?
7. Toyota Camry - 343,439
To lower pollution, the US needs to tax gasoline at the EU level
CO2 emission per capita, meteric tons per year
US : 16.5
UK : 6.5
France : 4.6
It works.
===
6
@Woof
To decrease weight and increase fuel economy, Ford invested in years of research and new advanced manufacturing to introduce lightweight materials such as aluminum and carbon fiber to the F-150. Of course, with the Trump tariff against Canada (!), the price of aluminum is now higher.
This vehicle is built in Dearborn, Michigan, where tens of thousands of salaried and hourly workers are employed in its manufacture.
Ford has now announced a plug-in hybrid F-150 for the 2020 model year, with increased towing capacity and the ability to provide electricity to a work site. This is also the result of years of investment in research and development.
Now, the prospect of decreased emissions standards could prevent Ford from recouping that investment in its flagship vehicle in America's heartland.
Where will the company turn to remain profitable? China has been the world's fastest growing auto market, but they will buy fewer vehicles (especially American vehicles) if the trade war continues. The Ford Transit van does well in Europe, but Ford needs the ability to profitably produce battery-electric vehicles if it hopes to compete there.
@Woof I expect we will someday see a repeat o 1973 when all those giant US cars sat idle. This time ignorance is and will be no excuse. This time no bail out of Ford Chrysler or GM.
“Policy experts point out that Mr. Trump’s quest to undo his predecessor’s signature climate-change regulation despite opposition from the very industry being regulated is extraordinarily unusual.”
The only guiding “principle” in this dumpster-fire administration is to destroy anything associated with Obama (ACA, Iran nuclear deal, Cuba relations, etc., etc.)
Glad to hear this “extraordinarily unusual” news! Toyota: please join these automakers or my 2008 Prius will be the last Toyota I buy.
6
Wow. A regulatory "inversion." . . . Fascinating.
4
Disarray is our president’s middle name.
4
Thank you California! Proud to be a native and might even let my Oregon neighbors know I'm one of "those". We just bought our first electric car and the technology has come a long way with about 250 mile range. Can't wait to see what else comes along soon if auto companies continue to look toward the future instead of the rear-view mirror.
4
California is a nation state at this point, so good for us.
There are more cars on the road in California than any other state (so bad for us).
If I manufactured cars, I'd want the state that buys the most cars on board with me.
Isn't this a no brainer?
8
I am happy that I bought a Honda this year. Every Californian needs to support car makers who support strict environmental rules. It saves $ on gas and helps us protect the environment and the air we breathe.
Now we need to pressure the car makers that have not signed on.
8
I agree. List the car companies that bend the knee alongside those that don't and let the market decide.
The trade warrior in the White House has no idea of how to make the U.S. auto industry competitive. U.S. automakers such as my employer are now paying tariffs on steel and aluminum (to protect our national security from Canada), and we're in a technology race with foreign companies that don't have to pay these tariffs. Automakers that don't invest in R&D for better battery-electric vehicles will not remain competitive in the large parts of the world that want to stay above sea level in coming decades.
Meanwhile, the president boasts that his tariffs are hurting the economy of China, which has been the fastest-growing market for new cars. Under this administration, the auto industry is getting slammed from all directions: raw material costs, regulatory uncertainty and loss of foreign markets for our products.
In 2016, Donald Trump asked Detroiters in 2016, "What do you have to lose?" My employer hires more U.S. hourly manufacturing employees than any other automaker. Thousands of my salaried coworkers were laid off this year. Detroit has a lot to lose.
9
Who stands to benefit from fewer miles per gallon?
People who sell gas. Well, yes, that's obvious. Who else?
Nobody else. Nobody else benefits from higher gas mileage.
Well, who stands to be harmed by more CO2 in the environment?
Everybody. Including people who sell gas.
10
Of course it’s in disarray. Everything the Trump team does is chaotic and poorly thought-our.
10
The President is old enough to remember the gas crisis. The single biggest reason the US auto industry was decimated by Japanese competitors was fuel efficiency.
They had fuel efficient cars and we didn't.
Younger people, even younger Republicans understand we are destroying the future of our planet and its unsustainable. The auto industry is finally trying to de-couple from the oil industry in order to survive.
8
If Toyota doesn’t get on board with California, the hybrid Camry I’m driving now will be the last I buy from Toyota.
13
I have no doubt that Trump and deregulation Republicans will spin this as a win by claiming corporations will self regulate themselves without federal oversight being necessary.
4
I like this app
The Trump administrations's war on sound environmental regulations represents a clear and present danger to the health of the nation and the world.
Denial of science and the effect of climate change on our fragile planet is criminal.
Bravo California and the other states who know the deleterious effects of carbon dioxide emissions on our planet. Individual states and auto companies are stepping up to do the right thing. The Trump administration: Not so much.
Ultimately, we can only achieve proper and intelligent environmental regulations and policies by replacing Trump in the upcoming election. As President Obama has said: "Don't boo. Vote."
7
My two cents...I will not purchase a car with poor gas mileage and auto companies know that. Multiple that by millions of cars and you can see why Trump's efforts are failing.
9
With apologies to Ross Douthat, Just. Tax. Gasoline.
An automatic 25 cent yearly step in gasoline tax in CA, with proceeds returned to working class people, will do more to increase fuel economy in a week than 10,000 DC bureaucrats could achieve in a decade.
9
We have many auto manufactures who have morals and a conscience thank God. The climate change deniers are loosing and the Dems should start hammering in to the public about the planet needs a hero to survive. We can win just on this serious issue facing us. Also add what Pope Francis said to oil men meeting you harm the environment with coal you harm humanity. Powerful words.
5
@D.j.j.k. - Actually they're more motivated by pragmatism but either way it's a win for consumers and the environment.
6
It would really bolster the economy if Amazon and Donald Trump would pay taxes, including back taxes and penalties.
8
Everyone, with the exception of those who are poor, should pay their fair share of taxes. It would help to end the wars and cut the Military’s budget.
This is all donald trump is about. Bullying and retaliation. He has no idea what he is doing, nor do his almost completely inexperienced minions. If we don't take back the White House and the Senate we are doomed. Truly.
"At one White House meeting, Mr. Trump went so far as to propose scrapping his own rollback plan and keeping the Obama regulations, while still revoking California’s legal authority to set its own standards, according to the three people familiar with the meeting. The president framed it as a way to retaliate against both California and the four automakers in California’s camp, those people said."
10
Anything they touch becomes polluted. And when it doesn't they become enraged.
11
So this is what policy-making with petty vindictiveness as its guiding principle looks like...
9
Do we not still have a Congress which is given the respnsibility to make laws? Mr. Trump seems to believe that we have an autocracy, where the dictator rules by executive decrees. Even worse, he is a climate change denier and has pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Accord. It is time to call a halt to this lunacy.
6
Unfortunately, the executive branch the president can repeal all kinds of laws or regulations. Trump wants to dismantle all the good past presidents have done to clean our air and water. His friends in Saudi Arabia and U.S. Big Oil are greedy.
How dare California provide environmentally focused legislation that makes sense and leads the way... Time for another Donald tantrum. I wonder if a couple of weeks at Esalen would help the poor boy? You know, back to nature Donald.
4
"The president framed it as a way to retaliate against both California and the four automakers in California’s camp, those people said."
What is wrong with this man? He needs to get a psychological assessment.
7
Is there a model here for the States to follow regarding gun control?
7
Trump is all for "State's Rights" when those rights are anti-environment, anti-women, anti-workers and anti-minorities but is against them if they are "pro" those things. Just as Trump is eager to round up all the illegals in the country but is against prosecuting those businesses who knowingly hire them.
8
Most infuriating is that Trump wants to roll back every Obama initiative irrespective of what is best for the climate and economy, but only because the policies were put in place by Obama. What a petty man.
6
What’s up is down and what’s down is up.
Make America polluted again.
Thanks Trump!
4
This may be the oil industry pushing on this but when you read the article it sounds more like it is Trump who is so obsessed with President Obama & is so bent on trying to destroy anything Obama achieved which shows how Trump is a very vindictive, not mentally stable individual where everything is about him & nothing that is good for the country.
5
Translation for the MAGA man and the silly boys who worship at the MAGA altar American cars will be unsellable overseas.
There use to be a joke "No one engineers a car like the French and no one want French Engineering". 2020 after Trump, that will read American not French.
3
Anything Obama did has got to go. The childishness is epic.
7
The sheer incompetence of this Administration know no bounds.
7
Waiting for the Red State cadre to jump in here and confirm they are disappointed because they wanted more pollution for their children and grandchildren.
Oh wait, Fox has confirmed that this is "Socialist government over-reach." Got it.
4
@joe
It's more basic than that. You won't see coverage of this kind of stuff.
Fox ignores the gun violence vigils, the stories of illegal immigrant hardships. For their immigration control stories, they usually just show men...in handcuffs.
5
Companies do everything for money.
I wonder if a small part of this is the car prods seeing the we're-in-a-polluting-indsutry writing on the wall and figuring if they don't appear to be going greener, if they do appear to be going backwards, then the bike-sharing scooter-riders of Gen Z are just going to move on without them.
Deal with it, mal-administration. Federal rules are minimum levels to be met. If an automaker wants to exceed those rules, it shouldn't be a problem.
5
Californians know and understand the hazards of auto emissions pollution to its residents and the overall environment. Those of us who are "Baby-Boomers" or older remember the thick layer of brownish-gray air pollution that covered the Los Angeles basin and the San Francisco Bay Area during the hot and dry season in the 1960's, '70's and '80's. Because of its population and vast industrial and agricultural base, California has no choice but to meet the demands of the present as well as chart a path to the future. China, with its 1.4 Billion people adopted the California emmission standards! Why should California go backwards, relax the "Clean Air" emissions standards... just because the current president wants to satisfy his campaign donors from the fossil-fuel industry?
5
The automakers are profit driven but also, because of the long term capital intensive nature of their business, they look to the long term future. (Its not surprising that the Trump administration failed to predict the response of the auto industry, because as a general matter, they seem to have little or no long term policy planning on any issue.)
The automakers' decision to simply ignore the more lenient standards advanced by the Trump administration speaks to both profitability and long term planning. Their decision to not take advantage of the leniency reflects the fact that they do not think these lowered standards will be around for very long. In other words, they think Trump's administration will not survive the next election and in the short term he should be ignored.
As a result, it is more profitable, long and short term, for automakers to ignore the leniency and not invest in in building inefficient vehicles. In the short term, they avoid capital outlays to tool up assembly lines and engineer vehicles to meet standards that will be scrapped in less than a year and half.
4
GM -- The automobile company that we, the American people saved from being bankrupt during the Bush Great Recession isn't willing to sign on to the pact for our clean air???
Well, I and my family will never buy another one of their cars again.
And, we have been comparing buying either a Toyota or Honda instead. Well, guess Toyota has forced us to buy a Honda.
Thanks to both GM and Toyota for making our car shopping very easy!
Thank you California!
10
Trump’s Rollback of Auto Pollution Rules is a well reasoned logical policy decision if you put it in the context of the GOP trying to do as much damage to America as possible before the 2020 election. They don't know how the new election will turn out but they do know that mother Russia will be thrilled with what they have been able to achieve these past four years.
5
320 billion gals of fuel over a period of 13 years multiplied by an average of$ 2.75 is a lot of money that could stay in our pockets but trump wants it in the hands of the oil companies? If California and the car companies explain that ..... no one not even the Republican Party can pretend to disagree can they?
5
"The president framed it as a way to retaliate against both California and the four automakers in California's camp..."
In Trump's mind, an important goal of emissions control regulations is apparently retaliation against automakers and U.S. states.
6
To seal the deal someone like the Nature Conservancy or change,org should start a petition where folks commit to only buying cars from companies that have accepted the California standards.
You get a lot of signatures and every other car manufacturer will sign on
6
Oh he’s been doing his level best to punish Californians ever since that tax bill. And let’s not forget Mr. Trump’s tender consolations after the Paradise fire. I know he’s been here once or twice but honestly he isn’t welcome. And neither are the GOP. Watching the rest of the country from here can feel like turning on a TV specially tuned to dystopian bizarro world. Thank god for the state of California.
6
I hope that White will fail in its attempt to win votes by persuading its base that a cheaper car at the dealership is a win for them. Trump can count on the gang at Fox News to omit the fact that gas-guzzlers will cost them more at the pump, never mind that the increased gas consumption will speed up the collapse of civilization for their children and grandchildren.
2
Terrific. This is how it should be. If the automakers are doing this with a little push from the government...this is how it should work. Just don't push to hard...aka the 1980's Mercedes Benz wire harness fiasco. Cleaning up the air people...isn't that a no brainer?
2
Many of us will boycott manufacturers who cave to Trump on this. I certainly will
6
And let’s not overlook the fact that the rollback is now being overseen by a 29 year old with virtually no experience in this area. I guess we can take some comfort in the fact that this administration and its band of incompetents can’t accomplish their evil deeds very effectively.
5
If Trump wants it, you can bet, it's bad for the environment.
6
Weren’t Conservatives screaming for state’s rights? I seem to remember something about that not too long ago. Conservatives? Any coherent, non- hypocritical thoughts?
6
The last paragraph is the kicker. Trump does not care about a coherent plan, rational standards, climate change, the well-being of the consumer or anything else besides hitting back at his enemies.
5
All these 20- and newly 30-year olds in senior positions are telling. Trump has repeatedly done away with experienced staffers that might push back against his shortsightedness and installed people lacking the maturity and life-experience necessary to handle the complexities of their positions. As with everything Trump, blatant overabundance of self-confidence once again wins out over "experienced enough to know better".
5
I demand that automakers produce a car without catalytic conversion and which gets no more than 8 miles to a gallon of properly leaded gas. What vision! And could we please get rid of those pesky mufflers.
2
If you think a more efficient car is expensive, wait until you see the bill for climate change.
4
I cannot imagine that any automaker would change their current manufacturing processes to go along with Trump's ridiculous idea of rolling bag standards. That would just be a cost of them millions of dollars and would take a lot of time to recoup and his presidency would then be over and everything would come back.
I don't think the man can think straight about anything.
3
Its Trump’s emissions that need regulating. His Twitter posts. They are noxious beyond belief and dangerously pollute the political atmosphere.
4
Most people realize that the current antediluvian GOP with its ridiculous policies will soon be gone. Any political party that thinks any business would agree to the GOP's crackpot theories and proposals would soon be out of business.
3
"That could imperil one of Mr. Trump’s most far-reaching rollbacks of climate-change policies."
In what kind of world can a man with such an agenda run for, assume and manage to hold office?
The president is "enraged" that his rollbacks of policy aimed to mitigate the effects of climate change -- which has the capacity to kill us all in relatively short order -- may not see the light of day. Good. May his head explode from anger.
Good things happen when one stands up to a bully. I'm delighted that:
- California did an end-run around Trump and his oil-industry benefactors
- several auto makers accepted Gavin Newsom's invitation
- more manufacturers may follow
- the efforts to carry out Trump's twisted plan fall to a newbie who is likely not up to the task
Trump either doesn't realize it, or thinks he can fight it, but technology advances and the world moves on accordingly. As David Byrne sang, "Same as it's ever been."
When it's time to replace my present car, I'm looking to go electric or hybrid-electric. And Trump won't be able to stop me!
7
@D Price
I know, I know.
"Same as it ever was."
1
What bubble will Trump and his cronies plan to live in once the air is too toxic to breath, the water is too toxic to drink or even bathe in, and the food is non-existent? I'm sure there is a Plan B. Maybe they're all moving to Mars.
2
Disruption for the sake of disruption is not policy. Fixating on obliterating Obama's legacy is nothing more than spiteful vengeance tinged with a healthy dose of Republican racism. Gutting regulatory agencies is dangerous and placing know-nothings in charge of the agencies they are parachuted into is par for the Trump course. The damage done by Trump and his enablers will take years or decades to overcome.
Make America Great Again.
2
Yet another bone headed move by this out of sync and grossly incompetent administration.
The harm being done now will be quickly reversed once it’s clear that trump and his minions will be out.
Looking forward to an experienced and capable new president in 2020 along with a Congress ready to work on many positive initiatives in behalf of our country and the world. We all have to do our part to assure that happens!
3
Will be interesting to see if he gets re-elected. I fear he will. The damage he might do over 8 years could cost the world dearly and transform US into the laughingstock of the decade and the most undesirable country for high tech workers to immigrate to, right next to Sierra Leone. I know I will stay far away as long as this madmen is in the office.
2
We are witnessing insanity.
What rational person would be "enraged" at a true agreement worked out freely by interested stakeholders?
Trump is enraged because car companies did not heel to his royal (and absurd) command?
6
"The president framed it as a way to retaliate against both California and the four automakers in California’s camp, those people said."
How many more examples do we need to demonstrate Trump thinks like a 10-yr-old and has absolutely no strategy for anything except feeding his ego and destroying this country in the process?
3
Relying on an inexperienced staffer to draw up a major rule change seems typical of Trump's administration. Experience is a liability when loyalty and boot licking are the primary job requirements.
4
No wonder Trump is enraged; he's finally faced with principled, intelligent people who care more about the world they're going to leave their grandchildren than engorging the wallets of oil company executives. What's a would-be dictator to do?
3
Our very stable genius schemes on how best to "retaliate" against thise who dare to help reduce toxic air pollution and slow cliamte change.
What more needs to be said? Next time stronger tornados or more frequent floods decimate red state towns and cities, may those citizens stop and think about who they're voting for in 2020.
2
The Trump administration is defined by disarray.
2
Did Trump roll back Obama regulations just because they came from Obama? Did he do it to make things easier and more profitable for auto manufacturers to continue manufacturing cars that produce more pollutants, use more fuel which in turn benefits the oil companies? Everything this man does is in the opposite direction of what most people want. Everything he does is to the benefit of corporations, to the detriment of the people, and to wipe out Obama’s existence in the White House. He rolls back regulations on the environment, safety, health, finance, food, etc, etc. Trump is the rabid scoundrel of humanity.
It is heartwarming to see California and car manufacturers standing up and doing the right thing for our world. We all need to step up and do the right things for our planet, we certainly can’t expect the trump administration to do it.
4
Let's not forget, US is not the only market in the world
2
Hello! Joe Consumer here. I won't buy a car that doesn't meet the new standards because I care about mileage, safety, and climate change.
3
@Richard Cummins
Hey Richard! NY Lynn now Bodega Bay, Lynn, here. Good to see you here in this forum.
How can pollution be better than clean air?
Trump's insanity has created a world of absurdities.
4
Individual transport pods such as automobiles are a transportation cul-de-sac.
The depths of Trump's jealousy of President Obama knows no bounds.
The result is the destruction of our democracy and global alliances, and corruption and ineptitude to the extent that we have not seen before in a White House.
Impeach him in the House in 2019 (the GOP Senate will not convict but history will record his impeachment by the House).
Then vote him out in 2020.
5
It is good to see California and the major car manufacturers all treating Trump the way history will treat him - as an impotent and marginalized relic of the past.
2
Will there ever be a day when trump won't make some boneheaded decision ( generally based on ending an Obama-era regulation), only to have it dismissed by the courts or corporations?
2
Trump is determined to trash the economy.He initiated a trade war with China and now he intends to fight California on car emission controls.This will hurt the auto makers who need just one standard in order to prosper.Trump has hurt the farmers with the trade war and now is trying to do in the automakers.How to ruin a good economy in several senseless steps.Remember that Trump is a master at taking companies to bankruptcy!
1
How about this....automakers can manufacture the automobiles they wish to.
Consumers can buy the automobiles they wish to.
There. Fixed it.
1
Sure thing, George Orwell. And how about this...pharmaceutical companies can manufacture the opioids they wish to.
And [greedy] doctors can prescribe the opioids so that consumers can buy the opioids they wish to.
There. Fixed it.
1
I remember Trump complaining that Europe didn't buy enough American cars. If he gets his way on this there will be far fewer places that will import American cars. Doh!
3
Time and public opinion is on the side of the automakers. All they have to do is sit out this shambles of a presidency.
3
You have to admit, Trump and his minions are wonderful at destruction. I hope California and the auto industry stand up to them.
2
"Speaking on condition of anonymity, he called the pact top-down policymaking with California trying to impose its standard on 49 other states."
So it's "top-down policy making" and wrong if it doesn't come from Washington, but it's not "top-down" and just fine if the reigning monarch decides how it should be imposed on the fifty sovereign states by his edict?
Got it.
2
I owned a 1964 Olds JetStar 88. Loved that car. Does Mr. Trump's rules on auto pollution mean GM can start making those great old cars again? Exact replicas?
Did trump roll back Obama regulations just because they came from Obama? Did he do it to make things easier and more profitable for auto manufacturers to continue manufacturing cars that produce more pollutants, use more fuel which in turns benefits the oil companies? Everything this man does is in the opposite direction of what most people want. Everything he does is to the benefit of corporations and to the detriment of the people. He rolls back regulations on the environment, safety, health, finance, food, etc, etc. Everyone has heard of the anti-Christ, can there be such a thing as an anti-president? An anti-human? An anti-altruist?
3
The entire Trump presidency is in disarray.
5
The American auto industry should have been more careful about what they wished for and complained about with respect to emissions regulation. Trump was their dream come true in early 2017. How shortsighted of them! How ignorant of them! Now they have to figure a way out of the mess he's making.
2
Amazing. This is like tobacco companies coming forward and saying, "No, we need to keep those warning labels on cigarettes, even if you say it's okay for us to remove them." If someone had told me, 4 years ago, that auto manufacturers would be in a tug of war with the Feds over pollution standards, and that they were the ones pushing for higher regs, I'd have said you were nuts.
This is Trump in a nutshell. Black is white, up is down, the earth is flat, the moon is made of green cheese. There's no economic bad news and a recession isn't coming, but maybe we'll cut payroll taxes anyway because the $1 trillion deficit we're headed for is actually good news. Climate change isn't real, so let's buy Greenland because once it melts there will lots of resources there (but no ice).
But, more than the denial of climate change, more than rolling back anything Obama put in place, the real impetus behind all this was revealed in the last paragraph of the article: Retaliation against California. Trump's ignorance and stupidity may be monumental, but they pale in comparison to his vindictiveness.
4
"At the same time, staff members at the Environmental Protection Agency and Transportation Department, which are writing the rule, say they are struggling to assemble a coherent technical and scientific analysis required by law to implement a rule change of this scope."
Well, spiting President Obama has nothing to do with coherence or science! With YouTube pseudoscience, maybe...
2
"The president framed it as a way to retaliate against both California and the four automakers in California’s camp, those people said."
An incorrigible child who is missing his nap: this is who is running the country. I'm sorry, did I say running? i meant ruining.
4
The man is so obsessed with undoing everything President Obama accomplished that he now even appears to be undoing the recovery from the Great Recession.
5
so how far back does #45 want to go with changing our auto emissions systems regarding pollution, until we are wearing masks to go outside like they already do in other countries, because there air is that bad. the auto makers have already been improving the gas mileage and pollution output for years which would be "crazy" at this point to go backwards, with all the money already spent on the technology to do this. What next, change back to the old ways we use to filter our drinking water? Don't we always need to improve those areas as our population in the world grows, or does he even care about anything but another dollar in his and his rich friends pockets by making these throw back changes. To whom ever follows #45 has a lot of executive orders to implement to cancel all the bad ones #45 has issued.
3
The automakers are preparing for the inevitable. The days of this administration are rapidly coming to an end and reason will return to Washington. Trump's rollbacks will be laid on the ash heap of ignorance.
3
if the car companies have half of a brain, they will see that only fuel effecient cars will be bought if not electric ones. period.
2
One more example of Republican hypocrisy. In the past they have taken the position that the federal should not interfere or impose regulations on the states, that the states are bested suited to determine what is best for their state. Yet here is another example of their inconsistency. This is not about vehicle emissions, this is once again about an egomaniac who must have his way. If he proposes a policy then any dissent is a repudiation of him, something his ego can not tolerate. This white man must prove that a black man was wrong and did not know what is best for the country. It is another example of his racism.
His Republican lackeys in the congress will not speak up even though many agree with the auto makers. There prior complaints about the federal government hampering business with unnecceary regulation seems to not apply to a Republican President .
3
Mr. Trump was "enraged?" Is that news? He's always enraged. If Mr. Trump was "calm, measured and he behaved like an adult," that might be worth reporting.
3
Headline yesterday: Shareholder Value Is No Longer Everything, Top C.E.O.s Say
Ok holdout automakers. Here’s your chance to put your money where your mouth is. If you really care about your social responsibility, then join California in resisting Trump’s proposed rollback.
4
Let's hope that businesses and corporations all learn that their bottom line depends on our planet and human race surviving and thriving as we address climate change and nationalist autocratic governments and their politically driven chaos.
2
This is more craziness by a vindictive President and administration. Trump will probably try to misuse his position to intimidate auto makers into going with his plan. It was chilling to hear that at Trump’s recent speech the union went along with docking workers pay because they did not want to risk a Twitter attack or worse by Trump.
3
The rollback process is currently being “helmed by a 29-year-old White House aide with limited experience in climate change policy because three senior political officials working on the rollback, a complex legal and scientific process, have all left the administration recently.”
Wow – a rollback process this complex and complicated being “helmed” by a White House aide . . .
How “comforting” to find that this appears to be the current definition of Trump’s “best of the best” people in charge.
I wonder how many other “White House aides” are running the country?
5
Donald Trump, a President who you can always count on to make things worse. He's at it 24-7, Twitter feed at hand.
3
Yet another example of this adminstration's total lack of awareness, inability to see another's point of view, unwillingness to compromise, and most importantly, a complete inflexibility once an opinion is formed. This isn't just the President but nearly everyone in this administration, now that nearly all of the people, who had the “the highest IQ of any cabinet ever,” have either been fired or have resigned.
3
No more Toyotas for this family. Too bad the company sided with Trump against California and the planet.
2
"...president framed it as a way to retaliate against both California and the four automakers..."
It's all predictable based upon a single predicate. T is emotionally arrested at 4th grade level. "Retaliating" against CA and automakers is akin to rolling the house of a kid who didn't bring a nicely, bigly present to his 10th birthday party.
Look at all of his actions based on this single predicate and you'll see the validity in this hypothesis.
2
In Norway, one of President Trump’s favorite countries on the planet, the number one selling car is Tesla. Once he realizes the Norwegians are mostly buying electric cars, they’ll be dropped from his speeches about folks he’d like to emigrate to the USA.
3
If one boils the article down, auto companies know Trump is doomed, global business is important and little hand’s ego is just to be vindictive to Obama’s policies and common sense!
3
"rendered irrelevant" has a lovely ring to it.
2
Canada is also signing on with to California initiative
2
The rollback process is currently being “helmed by a 29-year-old White House aide with limited experience in climate change policy because three senior political officials working on the rollback, a complex legal and scientific process, have all left the administration recently.”
Wow – a rollback process this complex and complicated being “helmed” by a White House aide . . .
So this is another fine example of Trump’s “best of the best” people?
Good grief - I've got shoes older than this individual.
4
How does anyone with a grounded sense of global warming work for this climate nihilist? Well, it appears not that many do. We now have a 29 year old protege of Mike Pence in charge of formulating a regulation that would more or less allow tailpipes to continue dumping carbon in the air unabated, I guess the good news is that the WH is so egregiously incompetent and corrupt and ignorant that the states and the car manufacturers will take control and effectively preserve the Obama regulatory order. Still, God save us from this outright disaster of a president and the hacks surrounding him.
4
What's next from the dictator? Rollback the 13th amendment?
2
I drive a Honda Clairty, plug in hybrid electric. Last month my gasoline bill was zero, it will be the same for August.
I pay about 8 to 12 dollars a month to charge my car in my own charge port.
Soon the technology will be better and you will be able to go hundreds of miles on electric.
The only reason Trump is so desperate to do this is hatred of Obama. That is evil.
4
Just like the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate accords it would have been much better if Trump had done nothing.
2
The president framed it as a way to retaliate against both California and the four automakers in California’s camp, those people said.
This is why Trump won the red states, so he can retaliate against the educated, coastal elitists.
2
Environmentally responsible business practices are economically sound. Period. And savvy, forward thinking business owners know this. And Trump and his lackeys aren’t savvy or forward thinking, so naturally they’re confused. As usual, we’re bypassing the Trump White House.
2
The bottom line is always about money! Period!
Wouldn’t it be great if regulations were really about protecting society? For better or worse, that’s the way I see California.
No one likes rules, especially when you’re young, but without them, society falls apart!
Leadership is the glue that holds us together. Right now, it seems the entire planet is falling apart for lack of it.
Trump and his band of Obsequious Sycophants are currently in charge, and guess what? WE put them their because of selfish political rivalry.
So–What is the answer? Get involved! This means Democrats and what used to be called Republicans and put Humpty Dumpty back together again. BTW, Humpty Dumpty was never an egg, although the entire White House Staff has it all over their faces!
1
Mr. Trump's obsessions about undoing the previous administrations actions are driving us all crazy. It is sad when it affects us all and worse when he does not care for us, his employers.
2
So Trump wants to make it illegal to try and save/improve the environment? What is wrong with this man?
3
What is really embarrassing is how bad the Trump administration is at lying. They are trying to tell us that California is trying to split the auto market in two.
News flash folks - it already is. California has the statutory right to set its own emission standards. Every other state can choose either the Federal standards or the California standards.
But then Erdogan, Xi, Netanyahu, and Putin are also terrible at lying as well.
1
Take away the us vs. them, Trump vs. Obama, Red vs. Blue, and California vs. Middle America and you are left with a behavior that is absolutely insane. Trump wants automakers to make vehicles that beat his emission standards but not by too much. This is lunacy.
2
"Trump's . . . Disarray" is redundant. you could just have said Trump's.
2
European and Japanese auto manufacturers are turning to electric or hybrid cars so if US manufacturers want to sell cares in more places, they will have keep improving mileage. Also California buys lots of cars so it effects the market. Trump's inferior complex vis a via Obama is silly and hurting America. He should stop trying to destroy anything Obama accomplished and try to do a better job.
2
and Mother Earth breathed a sigh of relief...
What happened to states’ rights?
China is projected to be the world leader in Quantum Computing. Meanwhile, the US is busy with its policy priorities on driving gas guzzlers, burning coal and opening wildlife refuge for oil drilling. Anyone can guess where this leads to in a couple of decades.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/08/18/quantum-revolution-is-coming-chinese-scientists-are-forefront/?noredirect
2
Tom Steyer on a Climate One Podcast recently quoted statistics on the economic sense of the Green New Deal. These statistics demonstrate that a green economy is a healthier economy in every way. Green tech will create a green economic boom. The Trumpian argument that economic success and green tech are mutually exclusive is yet another complete lie.
Its an absolute outrage that automobiles are not fully electric by now. Trump and his administration just can't seem to lower the bar enough. Next they'll deregulate lead.
We have an administration that must be removed from office. They are a literally a disease causing government, internationally. Trump is sociologically destructive, awful for the environment, and a national embarrassment in almost every way.
How can folks possibly back these fools? Go California Go.
1
While the accomplishments and efforts of any administration can be boiled down to “bumper sticker expressions” some of the ones that define this current one were right in the article.
Foremost amongst them is: “what the Trump administration is doing is moot”.
With the regrettable exception of federal and SCOTUS appointments this statement can be applied to everything the Human Stain and his band of enablers / co-conspirators have done. They can be erased with the wave of a pen.
His mental state and demeanor are also predictably describable. The following quote also has been penned many times, we’ve read it ad nauseum: “Mr. Trump, described by three people as “enraged” by...”
DJT doesn’t see it, his fervent supporters don’t see it, some of his enablers in Congress don’t see it but everyone else does. He is now a de facto lame duck. His days could well be numbered (440 days, 15 hours, 57 minutes, in case you were wondering).
The time left for his reign of ignorance, hatred, bigotry, and incompetence may be ending very soon. Good riddance.
3
Ok America, enough is enough! One way or another you have to remove this guy from office. He's well on his way to turning your country into a social pariah as well as ruining all efforts by the U.S. to combat climate change.
1
Once again I quote a wise voice who stated attempting rational interchange with this poor excuse for a man is like playing chess with a pigeon - which knocks over the pieces, befowls the board and then struts around yawping that he won while amused bystanders throw corn to him.
3
Clearly, the auto manufacturers do not intend to follow the trump-u 101 course on “bankruptcy via short term and vindictive thinking”, a principle he himself has put into practice many, many times before*. (See $1.1 billion loss on tax return.)
They will wait him out. They will align with Ca and the rest of the first world, aka their market.
Some parasites ultimately kill themselves by killing the host. Some use the host more sparingly, or skip off to a new host when the old one is no longer useful. In this case, the host may well delay its demise, and enable further evolution, by successfully rejecting this parasite.
1
I used to be so proud to be an American !
I grew up as a kid with models of the X-15 and posters of the Saturn Rocket which took us to the moon.
I marveled at the likes of the invention of the VCR, Personal Computers, the Internet, and of course the production of Electric and Hybrid Cars.
And now, we're a country, or least the current leadership and the entire GOP who declares Man-Made-Climate-Change a hoax.
Rather than get on board with the rest of the industrialized nations of the world . . .
Trump, and his band of fools - chooses to "step on the gas" and accelerate us to the "Point of No Return" -
The tipping point for any chance of us slowing and reversing climate change.
I applaud California and those responsible car manufacturers who are doing so much to protect our environment.
Shame on the Trump administration for the small minded foolishness and Shame, Shame, Shame on the entire GOP !
I so want to be a proud American again.
5
Our farming is affected due to poor rain and less water, These lands are now used to produce salt. This is because of the co2 from big factories and vehicles. The Co2 from vehicles are sources are the major reason breathing problems for many people in cities who needs medication. These vehicles and factories should use the proper filter with water to create oxygen. This will avoid the climate change and help people. http://www.xavierraja.com/pollutionfreeair.php
1
The New York Times stakes out its viewpoint in the subheadline, "The Trump administration’s proposal would significantly weaken former President Barack Obama’s auto-emissions standards."
I might venture that another viewpoint, held by many who either desire to buy less expensive cars or continue to buy SUVs and light trucks, "The Trump administration’s proposal would roll back former President Barack Obama’s overly restrictive and potentially expensive auto-emissions standards."
But that's me.
“Signs of disarray” — a fitting albeit somewhat sugar-coated description of the Trumpublican regime from start to finish. Try “total chaos.”
1
Hello My Fellow Americans,
Can you please request you to do two things:
1. Send an email to car company (for which you have current vehicle) to stick to Obama era standard and sign up for California Emission law and ignore Trump law.
2. Email to your state governor / AG to join the California increasing the states requiring the healthy standards for the earth. (I am sure; if we get all blue states to join California law; no Automaker will have courage to work with Trump.
American Citizen from NJ
1
For any other U.S. administration this story would be a massive scandal. Just at a time when climate change is becoming undeniable, even to skeptics, Trump wants to lessen fuel economy and emissions standards. He wants this in spite of the fact that automakers are in favor of the stricter standard. It's grossly irresponsible, and blatant pandering to the petroleum industry. But in the post-truth Trump era, the whole thing is just another day.
Five years ago, Fox News was apoplectic about Obama wearing a tan suit. Today, a stupid policy that seriously affects a major U.S. industry as well as the health of the environment is just another side note in the news. Can there be any remaining doubt that America has jumped the shark?
1
Just to be clear, you should use the words Koch brothers instead of Trump or even instead president.
2
No one is going to go back to buying gas guzzlers in the 21st Century!
1