Traditionally, the CAFE standards are talked about as a means to cleaner air and far less greenhouse gases coming out of the tailpipe. But, in reflecting on that moral value, there is also the issue of Consumer Protection when it comes to earnings for work and how that hard-earned money is spent. Cleaner air and less threat of the ravages of high greenhouse gas emissions are all part of a moral standard the USA should uphold. There should be no lowering of standards and California is absolutely correct. They are leading the country in the direction it needs to go for many reasons and that is allowing the American worker to have more disposable income rather than paying for gas at the pump.
August 22, 2019
By David Knowles
California announced a deal with four automakers (click here) Wednesday that would increase vehicle fuel efficiency and defy the Trump administration’s plan to ease tailpipe emissions standards. In response, the president vented his frustration on Twitter.
Ford, Honda, Volkswagen and BMW signed on to the voluntary agreement with California, but the deal will have nationwide impact, as the four automakers account for 30 percent of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. annually. The pact lays out the goal of an average vehicle fuel economy of 50 miles per gallon by 2025.
Trump had sought to roll back higher fuel efficiency standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency during Barack Obama’s presidency, freezing them at 37 miles per gallon.
Greenhouse gases, such as the exhaust emitted from cars that run on gasoline, are a leading cause of climate change. According to the EPA’s own website, “the transportation sector is one of the largest contributors to anthropogenic U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.”
Trump, who has called global warming a “hoax,” disputes that raising fuel efficiency standards will greatly affect the environment....
August 2, 2018
By David Roberts
The Environmental Protection Agency, (click here) along with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, formally announced Thursday that the agencies will abandon the long-term fuel economy standards for passenger cars and light trucks developed by the Obama administration for 2022-2025, declaring, without evidence, that they are “too high.”
It plans to replace Obama’s standards, which required the auto industry to just about double the fuel economy of vehicles to an average of about 54 miles per gallon by 2025, with ... nothing. Instead, it will simply freeze the standard at the 2021 level.
What’s more, the EPA is revoking the Clean Air Act waiver that allows California to set its own air quality standards (and thus its own fuel economy standards). That would force California and the 13 states (and DC) that follow its lead on fuel economy to conform to a federal standard that is certain to be weaker than they’d like....
