President Donald Trump has moved to roll back Biden-era fuel economy and tailpipe emissions rules, proposing more reasonable and achievable standards that also reduce the upfront cost of new gasoline-powered cars.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday proposed slashing fuel economy standards that former President Joe Biden had finalized last year, in a push to make it easier for automakers to sell gasoline-powered cars.Trump said the move was about reversing Biden’s efforts to force more Americans to buy electric vehicles. “People want the gasoline car,” Trump said.The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed significantly reducing the fuel economy requirements from model years 2022 to 2031, requiring 34.5 miles per gallon on average by 2031, down from 50.4 miles per gallon (21.4 km per liter).NHTSA is proposing to revise down the 2022 fuel economy standards and then proposing to hike them between 0.25% and 0.5% annually through 2031. In 2022, under Biden, NHTSA increased fuel efficiency by 8% annually for model years 2024-2025 and 10% for 2026.
Biden’s handlers intended to use these rules to force Americans into electric vehicles (EVs). For numerous reasons, many of which I covered at Legal Insurrection over the last 4 years, nobody was buying what the New Green Deal team was selling, especially EVs.
The adjustment in the fuel efficiency requirements was driven, in part, by the increasing realization that car manufacturers could not meet the unrealistic, utopian demands of climate crisis cultists. The change will result in more affordable and safer cars for Americans.
On Wednesday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the previous rules drove up the cost of new cars and were “completely unattainable” for automakers. He initially directed NHTSA to review the CAFE regulations in January.The Transportation Department said the proposal is projected to save American families $1,000 on the average cost of a new vehicle and a total of $109 billion over the next five years.NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison said the move to ease the mileage standards would make the nation’s roads safer. “Newer cars are safer cars and by reducing vehicle prices, more American families will be able to afford newer vehicles,” he said in a statement.Mr. Trump was joined at Wednesday’s event by senior auto industry executives. In a statement shared with CBS News, Stellantis CEO Antonioa Filosa expressed support for the proposed fuel efficiency rules, saying the initiative would realign the CAFE standards “with real-world market conditions as part of its wider vision for a growing U.S. automotive industry.”
The gutting of the Biden-era standard aligns with the dawning realization that the climate crisis is nothing more than a massive hoax to shift money and power into the hands of progressive activists and power-hungry, globalist bureaucrats. Of course, the environmentalists are in hysterics.
The New York Times, which recently admitted defeat in the ‘Information War’ over climate change, is in most profound grief.
Mr. Trump has aggressively repealed dozens of federal climate protections. The rollback of automobile standards comes as the administration is also lifting restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and oil and gas wells while making it easier for fossil fuel companies to extract and burn more coal, oil and gas, the main drivers of climate change.Environmentalists said repealing mileage standards would debilitate efforts in the United States to fight climate change. They also challenged the president’s claim that the proposal would lower costs, noting that the efficiency standards have spurred automakers to produce cars that use less gas, saving people money at the pump.
Interestingly, to pair with this news, several car companies are beefing up production in this country. Hyundai, Toyota, General Motors, Ford, and even Volvo are spending billions to expand their facilities or build new manufacturing operations.
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