Big Auto Wanted CAFE "Relief" From Shitstain: Now They'll Get Years Of Legal Battles, Confusion

[hatrack]

Womp womp.

EDIT

Four days after his inauguration, Trump met with the CEOs of major automakers at their request. The topic of discussion was softening the Obama-era rules (Greenwire, Jan. 24, 2017). In April 2018, former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced the Obama-era rules were "inappropriate" and should be revised (Greenwire, April 3, 2018). The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a powerful trade association, heralded the decision.

The following month, EPA sent OMB a proposed rule that called for freezing fuel economy requirements at 2020 levels through 2026. At this point, automakers started to worry they were getting more than they had bargained for. Indeed, it had become apparent that dialing back the Obama-era standards would set up a lengthy legal battle with California, which has the authority to set tougher tailpipe pollution rules than the federal government.

And while the battle played out in court, automakers would have to comply with a patchwork of requirements around the country, undermining their regulatory certainty and long-term planning.

EDIT

Dan Becker, executive director of the Safe Climate Campaign, has been advocating for clean car standards in Washington for more than a decade. He has his own theories about automakers' intentions. When automakers initially asked Trump for relief, they were hoping the government would provide more "compliance flexibilities," he said. Those are credits for technologies that help companies comply with the standards but aren't necessarily related to the engine, such as more efficient air conditioning systems. Environmentalists call these credits "loopholes" because their benefits aren't well-verified. "When the automakers lobbied Mr. Trump on day four of the administration, they wanted rollback via more loopholes," Becker said. "What they got was rollback by meat ax and years of legal warfare with California."

EDIT/END

https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060123559

[shanny]

1. Any fool could have seen that coming:

"rollback by meat ax"

Our captains of industry aren't worth what they're paid.