Trump administration completes rollback of emissions rules

Regulatory changes set stage for legal battle between Trump administration and states over fuel emissions rules.

Trump emissions rollback
The Trump administrations says new fuel emissions rules will result in about two billion additional barrels of oil being consumed and 867 to 923 additional million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide being emitted [File: Al Drago/Reuters]

United States President Donald Trump’s administration has completed a rollback of vehicle emissions standards adopted under his predecessor Barack Obama by requiring only 1.5 percent annual increases in efficiency through 2026 – a far less stringent benchmark than the discarded rules.

The announcement on Tuesday sets up a legal battle with California and more than 20 other states that plan to sue over the fate of one of the most ambitious US climate change rules. The Trump administration called the move its largest single deregulatory action and said it will save automakers upwards of $100bn in compliance costs.

The policy reversal marks the latest step by Trump, a Republican, to erase environmental policies pursued by Obama, a Democrat.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said the Trump administration is weakening “standards that protect our health and environment from polluting contaminants emitted by cars and trucks”.

Under the Obama rules, carmakers were to have averaged about five percent-a-year increases in fuel efficiency through 2026, but the industry lobbied Trump to weaken them. The new requirements mean the US vehicle fleet will average 40.4 miles a gallon (17.18 kilometres a litre) rather than 46.7m/g (20km/l) under the Obama rules.

The Trump administration said the new rules will result in about two billion additional barrels of oil being consumed and 867 to 923 additional million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide being emitted.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler said the rule “strikes the right regulatory balance that protects our environment, and sets reasonable targets for the auto industry”.

The administration said the revised rules will cut the future price of new vehicles by about $1,000 and reduce traffic deaths. Environmentalists dispute the analysis that the rule will reduce traffic deaths.

The final rule acknowledges that drivers will pay more in higher fuel costs than they will save in new vehicle prices, but says they will save more in overall vehicle ownership costs.

It said it will reduce up to 1.8 million crashes and lower “the auto industry’s costs to comply with the program, with a commensurate reduction in per-vehicle costs to consumers, the standards enhance the ability of the fleet to turn over to newer, cleaner and safer vehicles”.

Source: Reuters