On Aug. 1, the Trump administration declared its intention to roll back the fuel economy standards put in place by President Obama in 2012, which would have required cars and light trucks to get 54.5 miles per gallon by 2026. Trump’s EPA and Department of Transportation have frozen fuel efficiency standards for vehicles built in 2020 through 2026 at just 37 miles per gallon. The new regulations would also strip California of its ability to determine its own vehicle regulations for greenhouse gas emissions, which the state won the right to impose because of the severe air pollution it was confronting in the 1970s. California’s regulations are stricter than the federal code, and many other states follow California’s lead, thus dividing the country into two separate vehicle markets. The repealed Obama regulations would have mandated a higher, uniform standard for the nation as a whole.
Attorneys general from 19 Democratic party-controlled states and the District of Columbia have pledged to sue to stop Trump’s proposal that would lower the uniform fuel efficiency standard. Not only would every driver of a gas-powered vehicle save money under the Obama regulations, but the measure would have also removed tons of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Even major U.S. automakers have publicly come out in opposition to the rollback.
Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Andrew Linhardt, deputy director of advocacy with Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All campaign. Here, he discusses Trump’s proposed rules changes, the impact they would have, and how environmental and public health groups are fighting back.
ANDREW LINHARDT: The Obama regulations were a program that, back in 2011, everyone — automakers, California EPA, Department of Transportation, some of the unions — agreed to to slowly increase fuel efficiency and to decrease the greenhouse gas pollution from new gasoline-burning vehicles, which is something like 98 percent of the vehicles sold across the country. And it would take it from about 37 mpg to 50 or more, depending on the numbers, over the period of 2012-2025.
What the Trump administration is doing is flat-lining those gains at the 2020 numbers, so there will be no more increases in fuel efficiency for vehicles between 2020 and 2026. So, that is hundreds of millions of dollars that would otherwise be saved on fueling costs for those buying new vehicles; it would be several hundred million more tons of carbon dioxide into the air, and so it is really a step backwards for our health, our climate and our pocketbooks.
And I think, unfortunately, the only people that are going to benefit from this are oil executives. There’s an estimated, over the lifetime of this rule, I believe it’s an additional 500 million barrels of oil would need to be sold to compensate for the decrease in fuel efficiency gains. That money would otherwise go into the pockets of you and me and everyone else that has to fill up their car.
BETWEEN THE LINES: So what’s his rationale? Many people say he’s trying to undo President Obama’s legacy in every arena. Because even the automakers are in favor of keeping the Obama regs.
ANDREW LINHARDT: Yes, that is true. Their rationale as they put it in the proposed rule is that not increasing fuel efficiency would somehow make vehicles safer. I think they have a convoluted logic that these fuel efficiency costs add so much to the cost because of the new technology that people will not buy new cars and stay in old vehicles longer. This is pretty much baseless. They’ve already had to backtrack on some of the economics behind their argument; while there are some very modest cost increases, a study done just before the end of the Obama administration showed that really the costs are fairly negligible and are more than made up in the fuel savings in the first few years of buying a new vehicle.
BETWEEN THE LINES: Andrew Linhardt, for many years California has had permission to set its own standards regarding fuel efficiency and many other states follow that, while other states follow federal regs, and the automakers don’t want to have a split market. And California has pretty much said they’re planning to implement the higher fuel efficiency standards, right?
ANDREW LINHARDT: Yes that’s exactly right. Under the Clean Air Act, Congress specifically carved out authority for California, because California, as they always seem to be, on the cutting edge of trying to fight pollution and climate change. And so, under the Clean Air Act, California had this authority and as part of the agreement, as I mentioned, in 2011 for these rules, California agreed to have their standards match the national standards so that there would be one market, which as you mentioned is something the automakers also wanted. So, California was willing to play ball, but they never gave up their authority and they’re certainly not going to give it up to Trump.
So, California is pressing on with these standards. I think we’ll see a lot of court cases once these rules are finalized, because on top of just the greenhouse gas emission standards that California sets and other states follow, they also set a zero emission vehicle mandate, and you may have seen the news recently, Colorado became the 11th state overall with California, and this is one of the best programs we have to increase the number of zero emission vehicles — mainly electric vehicles — on the roads, which decreases air pollution, saves people money and also helps fight climate change.
BETWEEN THE LINES: When there are lawsuits filed to stop executive actions like this, sometimes the changes are allowed to take effect while litigation continues, and sometimes the changes have to await the outcome of litigation. So what’s happening in this situation?
ANDREW LINHARDT: So, we’re still waiting for the final rule will come out. I’m not going to speculate on how the court cases might go post-that. I can just assure you that Sierra Club and many other groups, and California and other states are going to fight very vigorously. There is an ongoing case right now over the decision to reopen these rules and that’s still in the courts. As you know court procedure takes time, so we’re not sure how that will play out at this time.
For more information on the Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All campaign, visit sierraclub.org/transportation.
