EPA Restores California’s Authority to Set Auto Greenhouse Gas Emission Rules, Likely to Exacerbate Gas Price Increases

EPA Restores California’s Authority to Set Auto Greenhouse Gas Emission Rules, Likely to Exacerbate Gas Price Increases

The Biden administration has made a number of disastrous appointments in terms of selecting individuals who spearhead effective policies that actually help the American people.

Between the border crisis, the Afghanistan withdrawal, the supply chain challenges, inflation, and the astonishing decisions related to Ukraine, the American people are reeling.

However, one of the appointments that has gone under the radar so far is that of EPA administrator Michael Regan. During his confirmation hearing, the climate-crisis-embracing, green-justice nominee said America could learn from California.

Regan’s EPA has now made life harder for Californians, reinstating the state’s authority to set motor vehicle greenhouse gas emissions standards stricter than the federal government’s.

The decision, announced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, reverses an attempt by the Trump administration to block the state from using its vast market power to push the auto industry in a greener direction. The 2019 revocation of its waiver from the federal standard put California and the states that follow its lead on pollution limits into regulatory limbo, casting a mood of uncertainty across the automobile industry.

“This is truly important,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan told The Times. “Not just for the people in California but for the nation as a whole. We are proudly reaffirming California’s longstanding authority to lead in this area.”

Supplies of gasoline will be more regulated and expensive. Companies who rely on traditional fuel sources will have to make cost-cutting moves. But as far as Regan is concerned, that is okay: Regan defended Biden’s decision to kill jobs as an effort to “transition” the economy

Clearly the Biden administration is using the “climate crisis”—and more recently, the situation in Ukraine—as an excuse to cut the nation’s fossil fuel supplies and force the country into “transitioning” to green energy that can’t meet America’s energy needs and that most regular Americans don’t want.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan: “We’re pressing the accelerator to reach a zero-emissions future sooner than most people thought.” pic.twitter.com/YFiSn10JgV

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) March 8, 2022

Sadly, it’s not just California that gets to experience the pain. The EPA also reinstated the ability of states to use the California standards instead of the federal standards.

This action pairs with another move Regan made that went under the radar late last year, as the country began dealing with the supply chain crisis. The EPA also offered a proposal to reduce methane emissions.

At the center of this proposal is a rule which will put tighter methane regulations on the oil and gas industry. The rule, if imposed, would be the first time existing “reductions from existing sources nationwide” are targeted, according to an EPA press release.

EPA Administrator Michael Reagan [sic] said the new regulations would severely limit methane emissions below even the Obama-era threshold set in 2016, according to The Associated Press.

In what the AP reported was a rare move, Democrats used their legislative majority in Congress to roll back former President Donald Trump’s regulatory cutbacks by reinstating the old Obama-era standard last summer.

So, as gas prices explode and bureaucrats and celebrities tout electric vehicles, just recognize your pain allows them to feel moral and virtuous.

Environmental justice is at the top of the agenda for new EPA Administrator Michael Reagan—the first Black man and graduate of a HBCU to run the agency. Check out this clip of his interview with @planet_forward mentioning @RevYearwood and his approach to aiding BIPOC communities. pic.twitter.com/fcVXdiXinq

— Think 100% (@Think100Climate) May 21, 2021

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