# Standards at the Request of Automakers

- Link: https://greenlivingguy.com/2018/04/standards-at-the-request-of-automakers/
- Published: 2018-04-02T16:37:01-04:00
- Author: greenlivingguy

Firstly, this comes as a surprise to all following the current administration. [EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt issued a redetermination](https://www.bloomberg.com/tosv.html)
of the appropriateness of the EPA’s vehicle regulations through 2025.  At the request
of the automakers Pruitt wants to make them less stringent.  In doing so, he is 
[overturning thousands of pages of hard evidence](https://blog.ucsusa.org/dave-cooke/epa-pulls-back-sound-policy-judgment-at-behest-of-auto-industry).
Worst part and most noteworthy the consequences will be limiting consumer choice.
This will lead to increasing emissions. Finally and most upsetting undercutting 
the economy.

**_This decision is not based on evidence!_**

Last year, I pointed out the [strong body of evidence](https://blog.ucsusa.org/dave-cooke/epa-pulls-back-sound-policy-judgment-at-behest-of-auto-industry)
supporting the previous administration’s determination that the standards are appropriate.
The justification for this action for automakers  is considerably slimmer.  Rather
they DENY the fact that these standards are cost-effective for consumers. Also, 
we [have the technology to meet and exceed standards](https://blog.ucsusa.org/dave-cooke/epa-correctly-affirms-vehicle-standards-despite-automaker-misinformation)
by 2025.  Furthermore and most noteworthy, these standards [have tremendous positive impacts on the economy.](https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2018/03/cleaner-cars-good-jobs.pdf)
Rather than recognize this, they deny!! YES folks ideologues at the EPA ignore this
evidence. Hence they further misconstrue how the standards work. AKa Lie!!

![25 most electric car ready cities source ford motor company us electrification
map](https://i0.wp.com/greenlivingguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/image2.jpg?
resize=275%2C202&quality=52&ssl=1 "25 most electric car ready cities Source: Ford
Motor Company US Electrification Map - The Green Living Guy")

25 most electric car ready cities Source Ford Motor Company US Electrification Map

The administrator doesn’t want to understand. Understand that lower gas prices [further improved the economy. Hence, actually underscore the importance of having strong efficiency standards.](https://blog.ucsusa.org/dave-cooke/why-do-fuel-economy-standards-matter-with-cheap-gas)
Since increasing sales of SUVs [don’t affect the ability of automakers to meet the standards. ](https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2016/06/Fuel-Economy-Standards-SUVs.pdf)

##### So 󠀁[these standards are job creators ](https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2018/03/cleaner-cars-good-jobs.pdf)󠁿Also this means putting them on hold is going to COST jobs, not protect them.

Therefore, Administrator Pruitt is just another example of how little this administration
cares about facts for the automakers.

**_This decision is bad news for the environment _**

##### **_Unfortunately, here’s a fact that is unavoidable: 󠀁[transportation is the leading source of carbon dioxide emissions](https://rhg.com/research/final-us-emissions-numbers-for-2017/)󠁿 in the United States. _**  more vehicles traveling further eachy day, it’s critical to ensure that those vehicles are using less fuel.

If the EPA completely rolls back the regulations, [as some have signaled](https://www.bloomberg.com/tosv.html),
that will mean an additional half billion tons of global warming emissions just 
from the vehicles sold between 2022-2025.  Doing so would make achieving hitting
our obligations under the Paris Climate Accord a virtual impossibility.  THAT would
significantly damage our ability to hold global warming to 2 degrees Celsius.

Of course, burning more oil isn’t just bad for the environment. It’s bad for national
security and terrible for the nation’s pocketbook.

## This decision is not good for consumers

These standards have been increasing the availability of more fuel-efficient vehicles
in every single class of vehicle—that’s how they were designed.  That means that
whether a consumer is looking to buy a small car or a giant pick-up, they are going
to save money the moment they drive off the lot thanks to fuel savings that more
than compensate for any costs associated with fuel-saving technologies.  This decision
will now limit those savings and put manufacturers back in the driver’s seat, effectively
determining what consumers are allowed to buy.

Unfortunately, the only way that we have gotten more efficient vehicles on the market
for consumers is with strong efficiency standards.

### This decision is bad for business

At the turn of the millennium, manufacturers were selling gas guzzlers at a tremendous
clip—but in doing so, they entirely neglected investment in their car fleet.  As
soon as gas prices began to rise again, sales of these largest vehicles fell, as
Americans clamored for more efficient options.  And when it came to the Detroit 
Three, those efficient choices simply weren’t there.  Therefore, sales plummeted.
THEN taxpayers had to bail out the industry.  The actions automakers have taken 
to push the administration is so darn wrong. It will weaken these rules.  WORST 
part is it’s setting us up for a repeat of history.

Moreover, by putting more of consumers’ hard-earned dollars into the tank to pay
for gas instead of being able to reinject that into the economy.  MORE importantly
this action will cost jobs.  An independent analysis released shows that [the economy is slated to grow](https://www.ucsusa.org/our-work/clean-vehicles/cleaner-cars-are-good-jobs)
by more than $16 billion. Also, creating 265,000 jobs by 2035.  MIND you if the 
standards are held today. NOW a large chunk of which are explicitly created in automotive
manufacturing and its supply chain.

Suppliers themselves are [well aware of the benefits these rules](https://www.autonews.com/article/20180301/OEM10/180309785/supplier-alliance-seeks-to-minimize-changes-to-fuel-economy-rules)
have provided and the negative consequences of a rollback—unlike automakers, they
have also been willing to step out and support strong standards.

#### This decision relinquishes leadership on climate back to the states

Under the Clean Air Act, California has the authority to set more stringent vehicle
emissions standards, and states have the right to adopt these standards.  Prior 
to the federal EPA standards, California and 13 other states adopted strong emissions
standards for passenger vehicles through 2025 and hold a waiver from the EPA to 
maintain those standards.  However, because those rules are so similar to the ones
currently on the books, they had been willing to accept as compliance with those
rules compliance with the federal program.

Therefore the action by Administrator Pruitt completely undermines the promise of
a single national program by weakening the federal program.   The states understand
the technical and economic evidence that shows manufacturers can achieve strong 
standards in 2025. The State’s are the ones that face the consequences of global
warming if they do not.  They have therefore signaled that they will no longer follow
the federal program.  These states make up more than 1/3 of the new vehicle market.
Thereby ensuring that folks in California and New York are going to have more efficient
vehicle choices than those back in Detroit or Pruitt’s home state of Oklahoma.

### This decision is a disaster of the automakers’ making

We’ve seen lip service given by automakers about not wanting a rollback of the standards,
but this is nothing but puffery as they try to distance themselves from an unpopular
administration that has given them exactly what they asked for.  Too-late claims
about needing to act on climate change ring hollow given the industry’s continued
efforts to undermine the nation’s strongest climate policy at every turn—if automakers
truly wanted to act on climate, they would support the rules as they stand, not 
beg the administration to change them.

Inevitably, what this means is that the Administration is angling for a court battle
over its technically unjustifiable standards. Thereby creating uncertainty in the
process.  Of course, this is nothing new. This Pruitt administration has found itself
at the center of a number of lawsuits. Firstly, for failing to adequately uphold
the mission of the agency. You know, to protect public health and the environment.

#### This decision is not the end of the line

The industry is now facing complete uncertainty. Exactly the situation that the 
previous administration sought to avoid by finalizing the rules in 2017.  But by
pushing for a new rule as they have, the automakers can only blame itself for this
chaos.  And unfortunately, it would be the rest of us that will have to bear the
cost, not only by paying more at the pump but by dealing with the ensuing impacts
on the climate from veering away from the sustainable pathway we need to be on in
2025 and beyond.

#### The one sliver of hope is that this action is just the first step in the process.

This means there is still time to right this wrong.  The administration’s next step
will be to propose what it would set as a replacement. One for the cost-effective
standards now on the books.  Hence, giving an opportunity for stakeholders and the
public writ large to weigh in.

In conclusion, in responding to that proposal, the industry needs to stand up for
science. THEY need to protect the environment.  If not they’ll remain guilty. Guilty
of using an ideological administration to ignore the facts. THIS will cost the public
deeply.  And you can bet the public will be watching. Finally and hopefully giving
the agency and the industry a piece of its mind.

By: DAVE COOKE, SENIOR VEHICLES ANALYST | APRIL 2, 2018

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 greenlivingguy

 The Green Living Guy, Seth Leitman is an independent power producer, a green living
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