People that drive oversized gas guzzlers without a legitimate need are hideous
29
Typical of any story about the Trump bureaucracy: “... the skeleton crew of inexperienced political appointees who are heading the drafting process may not be up to a job that would usually be handled by career federal workers with decades of expertise.”
42
Glad this is a train-wreck. Couldn't happen to nicer folks.
22
The bonanza for the oil companies aside, the customary incompetence of the Trump administration in this instance may, for once, end up benefiting the U.S. consumer, who under Obama rules might pay more for a vehicle but would spend less on fuel over its lifetime while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
22
The sight of Madam McConnell..err.. Chao and Wheeler standing for their photo opp in front of the EPA banner is the poster display highlighting "Government Corruption".
25
this is what happens when stupidity meets science
science will win the day, no matter what
21
Re: "...That, the administration contends, would unleash the muscle of the American auto industry. It would also virtually wipe away the government’s biggest effort to combat climate change..."
What happens to a functionary's morality, such, that S/He WOULDN'T feel ashamed / resign from whatever office would DARE demand lower fuel_economy standards??
6
@R.G. Frano this will also make US auto makers even less competitive internationally. No other country wants or will allow clunky, oversized gas guzzlers.
19
The Trump regime effort to reverse the Obama fuel economy standards has been as inept as it is stupid & immoral.
28
This what a clownish, reactionary, incompetent administration is all about.
26
It's not just about making profits for the oil industry. As others have said, with this administration cruelty is the point.
''his administration has erased or weakened about 100 environmental protections on climate change, clean air, clean water, and endangered species.''
Trump and many of his supporters are the kinds of guys who, when they were kids, would torment little animals. As adults, they can take pleasure in locking migrant children in cages without medical care or even basic sanitation. The opportunity to destroy the environment for future generations must give them a great deal of satisfaction. "Après moi, le déluge!"
20
Hmmm, a slipshod real estate developer becomes a slipshod leader - who would have known.
Let’s get this impotent (sic) piece of legislation out the door so the world can laugh at our limp response to real issues.
13
As I drive around VT, and you do a lot of driving to get anywhere in VT I am usually being followed or am following an enormous truck. I parked beside one in a parking lot the other day that I think I could have easily driven under or put my car in its bed. And I drive by two dealerships, a Ford and a Dodge on the way to swim and the ocean-size parking lot is filled with...you guessed it, those enormous trucks. The other day in another parking lot a woman got in one and tried to back out and could not the truck was too big and the car behind her did not pull into his spot far enough. I just sat there and laughed. Not sure how long she had to wait.
14
The oil companies, like Koch, are delighted. Since Mr. Trump's son, Barron, doesn't breath the same air as anyone else, he, of course, will be protected from the nasty effects of increased carbon in the air. Doesn't Mar-A-Lago have an air-filter bubble over the whole place that washes the air????
What is there to say except that it gets worse when you think it can't get worse.
17
@Jeanie LoVetri
If you think trump cares about the kid, think again
7
Re: "...Doesn't Mar-A-Lago have an air-filter bubble over the whole place that washes the air????" {@Jeanie LoVetri}
Mar-A-Lago is / has been SO, BUSY chasing foreign spies who brazenly walk onto the property, of late, that they haven't had time to install their special atmospheric_Co2_scrubbers, thus protecting Trump's, (littlest), Lord Fauntleroy, Barron!
3
I think car manufacturers should simply ignore this Trump nonsense. If they do not, they will pay in two ways. First, substantial number of consumers are well-informed about climate change and its consequences, and they will not buy gas guzzlers to contribute to it. Second, Trump and its enablers may not be there next year and will definitely not be there 5 years from now, if he is re-elected. Our next president will undo the irresponsible Trump policies and rollbacks.
39
@Dodurgali
If consumers were so well informed, and so caring about climate change, they woudln't be buying gas guzzling SUVs and pickup trucks, which now represent 60% of US new vehicle sales, and which are nullifying the greenhouse benefits of electric cars by their emissions. Unfortunately, too many consumers don't take climate change into account when they buy their personal vehicles.
10
The real question is; how many consumers WANT to have less effecient vehicles?, not many. Do the car WANT to make them, not really. End of story. Trump lives in past that will not be back.
6
Isn't the success of Japanese cars fuel efficiency(good gas mileage), reliability (needs less repair) and durability(it gives good resale value, too)?
Ask any money smart people, they say they buy Japanese cars for these reasons. Mind you they are not less expensive than US cars.
Naturally, all car makers are trying to achieve the above qualities to beat others.
I read a comment here one time that the person would switch from Toyota to other brand, since Toyota signed Trump's plan.
Does anyone who has a common sense thinks Toyota signed the agreement so that it could produce more gas-guzzling cars under loosened regulations?
It's totally a politics at the time when Japan was negotiating a trade pact with the US.
9
Trump lives in the past. Why? Because he doesn’t read. He has no idea of the tech progress or social progress that is or has been occurring.
22
“For months, Trump administration aides crunching the numbers of the new rule have come up with the same unwelcome result: while lower sticker prices on less fuel-efficient cars would save consumers money upfront, fuel costs over time would overwhelm the initial savings.”
In other words, their degrees in Mathematics from Trump University seem to have failed them.
“The draft rule lacks two technical documents that experts say would be essential to defending it in court.”
Trump will supply those by tweet.
This whole endeavor to roll back mileage standards has been as farcical and phony as Trump himself. If you really want to stick it to that clown, the next time you replace a vehicle, take a test-drive in a car with a plug, either gas/electric hybrid or pure EV. We have two EV’s and they cost us to run the equivalent of gasoline at $1/gal. And almost everyone who drives electric swears they will never drive combustion again. That’s actually what Trumps patrons in big oil fear the most.
Once a gasoline customer goes, they’re gone for good.
26
"but six people familiar with the documents described them as “Swiss cheese,” sprinkled with glaring numerical and spelling errors (such as “Massachusettes”), with 111 sections marked “text forthcoming.”"
The text will be scrawled in Sharpie: "just put these rules in, my oil donors need a big favor!"
We need a new president. Looking at the current and former officials in the photos here shows the folks who are putting their faces in any updated encyclopedia chapter on "Regulatory Capture".
What's saving us is their utter lack of professionalism to address rulemaking in the real world.
13
What constituency is this policy supposed to impress? Other than people in the oil industry (a small fraction of Americans), I don't hear anyone saying "give me lousy gas mileage! I want to pay more at the pump and see the skies turn brown!"
It's one thing to lack concern for the environment, but Trump truly seems to be motivated by a malevolent urge to do as much damage as possible.
14
This is about a government department understaffed because of ignorance. We are truly becoming a banana republic under Trump.
20
but six people familiar with the documents described them as “Swiss cheese,” sprinkled with glaring numerical and spelling errors (such as “Massachusettes”), with 111 sections marked “text forthcoming.” Trump is filling his administration with people who are as inept as he is, this should be very alarming, but not in the MAGA America.
13
Mister Trump is, clearly, the polluter-in-chief. From global warming to the air we breath, he keeps going out of his way to skim the regulatory framework. Perhaps he is angling to have the Cuyahoga River renamed the Trump river.
8
I love the photo of fawning businessmen next to a cardboard cutout of DJT.
7
Nice to see Mrs. Mitch McConnell has her ace in the hole, no serious job Jeopardy there! Whew.
11
This is all abject nonsense – STEM-oblivious financial and regulatory shenanigans, designed by clowns and enforced by monkeys…
And the journalistic reporting, not much better…
Simple to show…
A Tesla battery weighs about 1,200 pounds – and costs about $4,000…
Suppose Tesla built a model with only 600 pounds of battery – and 600 pounds of 12 KW generator and 24 gallon (weight when full) gas tank…
Everything else pretty much the same…
Now, Elon’s too much of a purist to do anything like that – but some of these other guys…
PS
Railroad locomotive industry figured this out, about the time “Snow White” was making its theatrical debut…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_locomotive#Diesel%E2%80%93electric
PPS
For clarity, before any retort – key takeaway here is that some body shop in Wuhan with a lot of time on their hands could probably make one of these in about 48 hours...
Probably 72, if they wanted to fit it with a Volvo ambulance body...
1
"Only the best people". Surprised they're even smart enough to figure out that math doesn't lie. The people dumb enough to swallow this as an "achievement" shouldn't be issued driver licenses.
7
“ Massachusettes”, says it all; even political appointees should be able to spell or at least know how to use a spellchecker...pathetic.
8
Trump and his administration are a walking-talking CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY. What was America thinking electing these fools?
10
Life in the demonic, chaotic world we now must all be forced to live (and breathe) in.
One would think that the evident track to take by the inexperienced number crunchers now working feverishly in wheeler+chow's wonderlands would be to just lower the expected gas price due to all the extra oil that will come to market, thanks to the other horrors that trump's interior and energy departments are intending to inflict upon us to increase production. The more oil drillable (no matter where or how), the more gasoline refined, the lower the pump price- voila a solution to the gas price modeling conundrum!
The alternative is for those auto companies still in sync with our ogre in chief's dynamic duo of co-conspirators at epa and transportation to decide to fall in line with those auto companies who publicly oppose the mpg rollbacks. But that would take the type of market vision, not to mention moral courage, that few auto CEOs in this country evidently possess.
They are still lusting over those higher
unit sale prices that only American consumers too decadent to care at all about the health and environmental costs will be willing to pay for their behemoth pick ups and suvs.
Unfortunately there are far too many such people. A fact probably not noted by Douthat, for whom environmental
indifference does not appear to count for much when
thinking about the depth and spread of decadence in American culture/society. A fact that continues to puzzle me.
3
Obama's standards, Trump's rollback... Too bad Congress can't do its job so we're left with one-man decisions from left-wing and right-wing dictators.
1
You’re a middle-of-the-road cynic
6
While the republicans trumpet "State's Rights" obviously they only means the States' "right" to do whatever the Republicans tell them to do. We Californianas will not be intimidated by the Republican efforts to destroy our environment. No matter what t Trump and his gang of crooks thinks, we will not relax our environmental standards. Any American auto make who caves in to Trump's threats will sell no vehicles in CA that do not our standards. The Red States with auto plants better rethink their support for Trump.
21
The fuel standards epitomize the kind of windmills Trump likes to tilt at. You have California and Obama working on anti-oil industry regulations that save money for the working class. The regulations are good for the future. It's everything Trump hates in one. No wonder he's frothing at the mouth.
7
This is just another "fool his base" non-idea that will go nowhere simply because the major manufacturers are dedicating themselves to introducing more electric cars into their inventory lineup including Ford and GM.
27
If ever there was a piece of legislation to demonstrate that Trump’s vision is short term and self centred this is it. He takes American industry back from the cutting edge of auto making, he promotes excessive fuel consumption and higher cost to push a lower sticker price. He fouls the air and expands the nation’s carbon footprint and causes a higher likelihood of millions of people having a shorter lifespan. He is going to cost the nation many millions of dollars in legal fees trying to defend this ill conceived legislation in the courts. He reduces the size of potential markets for American cars by producing vehicles that will not pass muster in the world market. And why? Because Obama crafted the act that this is intended to supplant? Because the oil industry owns him? Because he can? Because he just doesn’t know any better? This is madness.
67
If we pay attention to the overall pattern of Trump’s actions, and not the stories he concocts to disguise his true intentions, we’ll see that almost everything he does is aimed at abdicating our country’s role in global leadership. This all plays into the hands of Putin. It makes sense since Putin, an ex KGB officer, probably has plans to exact revenge on the U.S. for toppling the U.S.S.R., and what better way to do it than to coerce/blackmail/bribe a chump like Trump into performing very specific actions that undermines everything that made our country great? Trump is actively sabotaging our country while telling us he is making America great again to disguise the true intentions behind his actions. If we apply this lens of looking at his presidency, everything he says contradicts the consequences of his actions. Now, I think Trump is waaaaayyyyyy too dumb to pull of something so masterful, which leaves me to believe he’s just a puppet.
13
@Phaque Di’Aronald Jay Chump
“...almost everything he does is aimed at abdicating our country’s role in global leadership. This all plays into the hands of Putin...probably has plans to exact revenge on the U.S....and what better way to do it than to coerce/blackmail/bribe a chump like Trump into performing very specific actions that undermines everything that made our country great?”
THIS. Recommend 100 times.
Anyone who’s seen my bird droppings here on comments knows I’ve been saying this since Trump first said, “Russia, if you’re listening...”
Any semi-aware armchair analysis of global affairs and history can read Putin’s backstory and see that this is what is happening to the USA. And if you don’t vote Democratic, you heartily and totally approve of this reality.
12
'' his administration has erased or weakened about 100 environmental protections on climate change, clean air, clean water, and endangered species.''
Lower Medicaid and social security costs by killing us all off.
But what bubble will he and his be living in?
10
This is a no win situation. It is clear that this rewrite of the rules is as messy as the Trump administration itself. They have no idea what they are doing and the auto industry will suffer as a result of the confusion. I would not buy a less efficient car nor do I think would anyone else. Fuel prices will continue to rise. Less efficiency means more money out of my pocket over the 10+ years I own a car. Yeah I drive them into the ground.
9
@Chris
obviously an outlier , 'round here pickup trucks and big SUVs everywhere
I don't how they are able to afford the gas
3
what a joke. just so big oil can pump more gas. like his uranium mining plan. these actions will be held up in court long after IT is locked up.
6
My biggest wish since his first day in office has been that he meets constant failure and that it gnaws at him until he vanishes. Actually, I’ve wished that for him decades before the White House.
15
Conservative believe there are many good possibilities in remodeling Earth’s climate. They’re not sure what they’ll get but isn’t everyone getting totally bored living on earth? Sun rises, sun sets, oxygen everywhere you look. Ugh. Let’s spin the carbon roulette wheel and see what we get? It could be better??
8
"...Mr. Trump, who is eager to campaign on the rollback as a signature economic achievement..."
Q: In what kind of universe is the rollback of fuel efficiency considered an achievement?
A: The same kind in which Donald Trump can become president.
28
When I read this I came away with the feeling that the problem with this administration is incompetence due to laziness. Trump has led a charmed ife, starting with his huge inheritance, and has never had to do the hard work of thinking, and analysis takes thought. By "thinking" with his gut and following his whims (overturn everything done by Obama) without thought, he gets himself into these situations.
7
Instead of bewailing this Administration’s ineptness, we should welcome it. It is one of the only firewalls between us and the abyss.
20
The attempt to roll back the fuel standards was a solution in search of a problem. People don't want to burn more gasoline and they don't want dirtier air and auto makers don't want to try to force them to burn more gasoline and breath dirtier air. The fossil fuel industry is just going to have to adjust to this reality.
19
The real problem is that the world is moving forward, while the flat-earthers cling to century-old technology. Automakers are not bucking the trends of the 21st-century global energy transition. The science-deniers’ myopia will inflict serious harm on the American economy and our position as a world leader in innovation and technology.
19
Retired pediatrician here - Why are people okay with their children and grandchildren breathing polluted air, drinking tainted water, and eating food with potentially dangerous chemicals (e.g., chlorpyrifos)? This shouldn't be a progressive/liberal/conservative/right-wing difference - but it seems to be.
93
@J the J
It has become strictly a progressive/liberal idea because Trump believes climate change is a hoax and Republicans are telling their supporters the science is not to be believed.
22
"In fact, people familiar with the writing of the rules said the regulatory impact analysis had been sent to the Transportation Department, where a small group with limited experience in mathematical modeling of vehicle emissions was still working to complete it."
So instead of giving this work to officials with decades of experience in this domain, or as Trump likes to say, the Deep State, Trump leaves this work to what essentially amounts to high school students. "I hire only the best!" -Donald J Trump
38
@cb Please don't denigrate high schoolers. I teach them...and they are smarter than the occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. They know, intuitively that "rolling back" these regulations means lower mpg, but high profits for the industry. To them, let's say, 2 + 2, here, doesn't add up.
14
@cb I think when Trump says he hires only the best what he means is he "only hates the best."
8
Why won’t they manufacturers know if they will be able to sell in this country? If they update their designs to meet both criteria, they will be prepared no matter the outcome. Sounds like poor planning.
1
@Chris Hein
Because the cost of designing two sets of vehicles is cost prohibitive. Most have already signaled they're willing to simply move ahead with the more efficient models as a result. The majority of people understand the dangers of more pollution from dirtier cars and the fuels they run on.
18
@Chris Hein: seriously? Try this: when your wife is pregnant, buy TWO sets of everything for the baby - one in pink, one in yellow - without the option to return one set for a refund following the birth. Got it now?
1
@Chris Hein Better yet, just build all cars to the stricter standard, then there's nothing to worry about.
2
Since the 1980's US Automakers had the patents and technologies to deliver a +40 MPG vehicle .. Gas was about $1.20 a gallon +/- and the incentive to become fuel efficient simply wasn't there.
Now we are at $3.00 a gallon [in CA] and a +40 MPG vehicle is driving the market .. The auto industry will respond first to consumer demand before caving to Trump's idiotic delusions.
50
Environmental Profit Agency
7
@Jason
It sure seems to have become that under this administration!!
5
The Environmental Keystone Kops are doing quite a job on this!
14
That’ is good news.
5
Is this a sign that the grass roots of the EPA are punching good holes in the nonsense infused into the organization at the top by Trumpian appointees? Wow, that would be good news!
13
What part of "We'll be tired of winning" or "MAGA" is rolling back 100 EPA Regulations and Rules,and now trying to lower auto efficiency standards? At least in these demonic and autocratic whims, nepotism, and greed, IMPOTUS is being non-partisan: these moves hurt ALL consumers and assaults the health of ALL Americans. Elect a disruptive clown and you get a chaotic unhealthy circus.
42
Wow, you mean there are really sane people out there living and breathing who decided this is a bad idea?
9
What does this administration have against clean air, water and science?
The Obama administration used scientific data to compare the costs and benefits in order to create their environmental policies. We should elect people to make wise decisions with the best available information.
48
It gets in the way of making money.
4
@John
You are "should-ing" on yourself, John.
1
In the draft proposal about 12 months ago , which I actually read, one of the drivers for the rollback was “ safety” ie bigge4 heavier cars and trucks would “ protect” the occupants.
They valued lives and medical care in this attempt at rationalizing.
That also failed as lo and behold, keeping old trucks and cars increased, or at least was balanced by these larger vehicles killing more people in the lighter new vehicles.
Reality is American car makers are moving on, they have to to stay relevant in the international market.
China, Asia and Europe within 10 years will be 25 to 50% plus new technologies.
Americans will continue to buy fewer cars as technology improves increasing life and population ages.
Another blast from the past by the comb over and his backward looking team.
15
@HJR Interesting then that the Tesla Model S is one of the safest cars ever tested. If Trump et al. really were interested in safety, one would think they would be celebrating the most American-made car on the market...
4
@HJR oversized SUVs, crossovers and pickups dangerous because they block lines of sight for the less selfish people who drive smaller cars, bike or walk.
4
shoddy preparation, short term gain, long term pain.
that about sums up the trump phenomenon.
now all we need is his base to wake up.
31
to date, his administration has erased or weakened about 100 environmental protections on climate change, clean air, clean water, and endangered species.
How is this supposed to make America great? Such insanity.
32
“the data and the models don’t lie.”
Why does the administration care about lying in this case? It's because what they call "the deep state" is doing its job. The U.S. Federal gov't is very weak compared with central European governments. We have an almost non-existent regulatory infrastructure, completely exaggerated by the right. In the U.S., you have to sue to make companies behave with basic decency, whereas in other rich countries the regulators head off bad behavior before it happens. In this article, the Feds will get sued to stop them from hurting all of us. What's particularly scary is that this mechanism relies on a judge's injunction stopping the bad idea so that it gets reviewed. The Supreme Court now has injunctions in its gun sights. See Linda Greenhouse's new article on that.
6
Rolling back pollution and automobile efficiency standards needs to be doomed, along with every other trumpian notion that would further degrade Earth, the only home we have.
21
Policy makers should be held to higher standards, just as physicians, lawyers and engineers are.
Is there such a thing as a policy malpractice suit?
The result of a professional´s work, if competent, is their salary but if they mess up, these guys get away with it.
Harming humanity without consequences. Not right by me.
So the fallout of inept or corrupt policy making should be dire to the perpetrators as it is to doctors, lawyers and engineers it should hurt their own pockets directly. Social blistering is not enough.
Environmental restrictions bring a challenge to consumers, developers, scientist, educators and basically everyone.
Environmental Restrictions betterhumanity more than technology itself. They bring conscience of others and of self. They influence our attitude, and thoughts, towards excessive use or exploitation. they bring frugality into the picture and make brains active. They remind us of respect and nature.
6
Very well said. Many environmental scientists across the political spectrum used to work together in the U.S Public Health Service. They all must remember too how the coal industry took on the EPA and the same Mitch McConnell in 2013 chose big coal over PA, then sequestered, furloughed, and began a hiring freeze to strain historical knowledge of public health and stop collaboration across U.S Federal regions and tax-funded free assistance programs, and the sharing of best and lessons learned.
Under pressure, President Obama chose to strive for fuel efficiency and CAFE standards and Healthcare as the winnable battles, but we still need to remember the Appalachian communities still are dealing with coal ash as it impacts broad regional health, a problem bigger than any one community should have to solve alone.
Now that this administration continues to try to dismantle the rules which protect the public through Public Health, attempting to override or usurp the budgets of equal branches of US government. It is clear Trumpians are neither serving the people or allowing our republic to employ reasonable checks and balances in other equal branches of government. Trumpians may try to seed doubts in the body politic’s belief in Professional career workers. We have not forgotten that it takes more than just walking the talk once. We have not forgotten when together we used to value and strive for excellence, transparency, accountability, and justice in U.S. government everyday.
7
@Ricardo
“Environmental Restrictions betterhumanity more than technology itself. They bring conscience of others and of self. They influence our attitude, and thoughts, towards excessive use or exploitation. they bring frugality into the picture and make brains active. They remind us of respect and nature.”
Which is EXACTLY why Republicans and red states reject them. Making “brains active” threatens white patriarchy and oligarchy. And as for the evangelical zealots who have seized control of the GOP, “respect and nature” means loss of social control and paganism.
4
“More basic issues holding up the regulations point to another problem: the skeleton crew of inexperienced political appointees who are heading the drafting process may not be up to a job that would usually be handled by career federal workers with decades of expertise.”
Dear Trump, Republicans, and their deplorable followers:
LOL
Signed:
California, fellow blue states, and the rest of the world
21
Trump is much smarter than all those experts who have dedicated decades to understanding these issues. He just KNOWS he is right. After all, he has never made a mistake.
6
This article brilliantly shows the contrast between the competent, evidence-based Obama Administration and the current train wreck under Trump. The rollback is a combination of misguided deregulatory dogma and Trump’s shameful desire to erase the legacy of a far better man.
28
This is all about Trump supporting US, Russian and Saudi oil producers. Lower mileage standards equate to more oil produced. In the end...sacrificing US citizens for dollars to those who hold Trump’s supposed fortune in their hands. Indeed, he is a mouthpiece only.
9
Trump and his crew have turned the White House into "Animal House". We've rented to a wrecking crew. The clean-up and repairs will take years, assuming recovery is possible.
17
I'm shocked, shocked to find that experts matter.
7
Trump, with his grand wisdom, made a promise that will be difficult to keep-again.
In his short-sighted vision of global and economic forces he again demonstrates that he is truly an apprentice.
5
"The assault on the American auto industry is over.". Which means the assault on the physical health of our citizens has begun.
Will auto industry execs nervously wait until Nov 2020 to hedge their bets? Writing is on the wall. They should keep their eyes on the efficiency marks set by Obama. Because they know they will have to return to them.
10
You can role back emissions rules but you cannot role back the laws of physics that dictate putting more CO2 in the atmosphere warms climate.
Electric vehicles are not just more fuel efficient, but because electric engines are simpler, they are much more reliable and require less maintenance than internal combustion ones, which means even more savings to consumers in the long run.
Most automakers understand that the shift to electric vehicles is inevitable, which is why some of them have sided with California on emissions rules. Investors know it too: Tesla stock has skyrocketed not because Tesla is generating big profits, but because Tesla has such a big lead in electric vehicle manufacturing that it could become the world's largest automaker within a decade. Rolling back emissions will only result in Detroit falling even more behind Fremont.
33
Trump wants to encourage car makers to keep making big gas guzzlers as part of his effort to keep the oil industry flourishing.He does not care about air pollution or the health and well being of people.Perhaps no one has mentioned to him that China produces half of all the electric vehicles made worldwide, including the Teslas made for the enormous China market.By trying to reverse emission standards Trump is harming the auto industry which needs to compete not just here but in other countries which are determined to reduce their carbon footprint.
72
What Trump always forgets is that we are part of a global economy, and U.S. carmakers want to sell their cars in other countries. Other countries in Europe and China will set stringent requirements for autos sold in their markets and we could end up getting boxed out.
Furthermore, I live in California and remember what the air looked like in L.A. when I moved here in 1989. The Obama rules are good for citizen’s health, children with asthma, and our planet.
67
I’m with Mr. Miller, last quote of the article. I’m looking to Europe and Asia for the next car I buy. Only Ford, Honda, BMW and Volkswagen have agreed to build cars that meet the Obama standards. First time buyers out there, either buy an EV or from one of these companies - they are the cars that will save your future.
66
@Gman I would say buy an EV. My (American-made)Tesla Model 3 is one of the safest and most fuel-efficient cars on the road, requires much less maintenance than gas cars, handles as well or better than my Subarus in the rain and snow and has given me zero problems in 27k miles so far. Oh, and it goes 0-60 in 4.4 seconds.
America can do this. No US automaker should be fighting increased fuel economy standards.
25
@Gman The Chevy Volt is also a very excellent hybrid. They started learning the technology immediately after President Obama talked about the issue and they've come a long way.
15
They're trying to ram this through for the short-term political gain, but from a practical matter we are inevitably heading toward alternative energy sources. This administration would do wonders for itself if it went all in on investment in the future rather than trying to resurrect the past. This for no other reason (of which there are myriad) is why we need new leadership.
28
Who knew it could be so hard - you actually need to know something in order to write regulations. The environment is grateful for the lack of competence and that the few facts available support the increased MPG requirements.
102
Trump enablers and supporters are like their idol: willfully ignorant, lazy, careless, and motivated by a resentment of those who aren’t that competes wIth that of incels. Their attacks on environmental regulations are ham handed, but they’ll do us in, regardless.
12
@Rex Page they are intellectually bankrupt and morally hideous
8
So, aside from lowering pollution (which among other things causes illness and an earlier death), and fighting green house gas emissions at the root of the rapidly growing climate catastrophe, Trump's rollback would mean it will cost a small fortune to fill up a less efficient gas guzzler. It doesn't help the consumer, the public, or the wider world in any way. So, who does it help, other than the rather inefficient American steel industry? Well, that might help Trump get re-elected, which he needs in order to stay out of court, and perhaps out of prison. As usual, its all about himself.
81
@PeterS It helps the fossil fuel industry which in turns helps Trump's campaign get more money from the fossil fuel industry.
13
@rs Indeed, that almost goes without saying. He's a fossil himself.
11