Trump rolls back Obama fuel economy rule, increasing emissions during a climate crisis

Donald Trump has finally gotten one of the longstanding wishes of his presidency: the weakening of an Obama-era fuel economy standard that made new cars more fuel efficient and more environmentally friendly. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency announced a new rule on Tuesday that will take its place, one that will increase pollution while the world wrestles with a respiratory virus pandemic and a climate crisis. Under the new rule, automakers will now have to increase the average fuel economy of their new vehicle fleets by 1. 5 percent every year through their 2026 model year lineup, ultimately arriving at an average of around 40 miles per gallon.

Under the previous rule — which the EPA under Obama found automakers were “over-complying” with in 2016 — automakers had to increase the average fuel economy of their fleets by 5 percent, with the goal of hitting 54 miles per gallon in the 2026 model year cars. As the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) points out, the Obama-era standard has already helped cut carbon dioxide emissions by half a billion metric tons, and saved drivers $86 billion in fuel costs, according to EPA’s own data. The new standard, meanwhile, is expected to release one billion metric tons more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, increase gasoline consumption by around 80 billion gallons, and oil consumption by 2 billion barrels — all at a time when the transportation industry is already the world’s leading source of CO2 emissions. “We’re watching, in real time, the crippling consequences of President Donald Trump’s weakening of our nation’s health and safety standards,” California attorney general Xavier Becerra said on a call with reporters Tuesday.

“It’s become pretty obvious that his backsliding on so many important regulations that protect our health and our environment are having real consequences now. ” The Trump administration’s argument in support of the rollback is, essentially, this: New cars have gotten more expensive as they got more fuel efficient, which has forced more people to either buy used cars or stick with the ones they already own. Since older cars aren’t equipped with the kinds of modern safety features found on new ones, they’re less safe. Lowering the fuel economy standard will reduce the upfront cost of a new vehicle by around $1,000, meaning more people will be able to buy newer, safer cars.

It’s a flawed argument for a number of reasons. For one thing, the administration has given basically no consideration to the fact that average vehicle prices have risen in the US because automakers now heavily favor selling more expensive — and, crucially, more profitable — SUVs and trucks, to the point that many of them are practically removing sedans from their lineups altogether. While most consumers would likely appreciate a cheaper sticker price, some experts believe that the new rule would ultimately cost them more over the life of these cars. Consumer Reports recently did an analysis that that showed that even if gas prices fall to $1.