President Donald Trump announced plans Wednesday to re-examine federal requirements governing the fuel efficiency of cars and trucks, moving forcefully against Obama-era environmental regulations that Trump says are stifling economic growth.
Trump was set to reveal his plans during a speech at an automotive testing center near Detroit, but he previewed the announcement during a round-table meeting at the American Center for Mobility with auto company executives and workers, just before the speech.
“This is going to be a new era for American jobs and job creation,” Trump said.
Some of you probably know the auto industry better than I do. Was it really just those awful old auto emissions standards that killed Detroit? Especially since the current standards were agreed to in 2009, after the auto industry was already on life support?
Trump’s announcement, while having no immediate effect, is expected to set the stage for weaker fuel efficiency standards as well as drawn-out legal battles with environmental groups and states such as California that adopted their own tough tailpipe standards for drivers.
Trump’s EPA director, Scott “What Global Warming?” Pruitt, doesn’t think California should be allowed to set its own emissions standards.
Scott Pruitt said at a contentious confirmation hearing Wednesday that he cannot commit to keeping in place the current version of a decades-old federal waiver that allows California to set emissions standards stricter than elsewhere in the United States.
In recent years, California regulators have used the waiver to force automakers to build more efficient vehicles, which has helped the state cut its greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks by nearly a third since 2009.
More than a dozen other states have adopted the California standard as part of their own efforts both to clean their air and fight global warming.
The other states include Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont; all together, states with their own high emissions standards make up about 30 percent of the American market, it says here.
Wingnuts love states’ rights as long as states are doing things they approve of. Otherwise, not so much.
But isn’t it a fact that most first-world industrialized nations have auto-emissions standards? Even if Detroit is allowed to knock off cheaper cars to sell domestically, what about international sales? And will foreign auto makers cut the standards for cars they sell in the U.S., making them cheaper, too?
And I doubt  doubling down on internal combustion is really a smart long-term strategy, given that much of the rest of the world is moving toward electric cars. Or so I’ve read.
I think I see a plan here.
If t-RUMP-DON’T-CARE passes, people will hve to stretch their families food budgets to pay for whatever little health care they can afford.
But, instead of going hungry, the whole family can go outside with their plates, knives, forks, napkins, and spoons, and slice a nice thick piece of “air,” and eat that!
And they can wash it all down with some filthy fracking water! All sorts of vitami… minerals in that!
Soon, they won’t need t-RUMP-DON’T-CARE at all.
And Paul Ryan can continue smiling ever hour of every day, knowing that he helped kill some more people who are poor, old, disabled, members of minorities, and the disabled – among others.
HAPPY! HAPPY!! JOY!!! JOY!!!
I was in France for work last November. My rental car had a manual transmission as is typical. I drive like I do 8n California, putting it in neutral when I stop to limit wear on throw out bearing… Engine stopped. Put it in gear, push in clutch… Engine started automatically.
Asked engineer I was working with and was told it is to limit greenhouse gases. I routinely turn off engine by hand in US to save gas… Nice that European cars do th8s automatically.
I suspect it means emission standards will be frozen at the current level, relieving the auto industry from trying to attain the 2025 goal of cars getting at least 54.5 mpg. This article explains it.
California and the 14 states that are on board with California’s emissions standards will fight this, which will throw the auto industry, especially electric vehicle startups like Tesla into turmoil. The high standards are spurring the conversion to electric vehicles, so there is a lot at stake, unlike previous fights with the auto industry, over lesser mpg goals and safety equipment.
Seeing how he’s going to save Detroit he should implement his new Law and Order restoration policy at the same time. I know he promised that law and order was going to be restored on day one and it didn’t exactly happen as he promised, but it’s never too late for some good old fashioned law and order, right?
Back in 1986 David Halberstam published a book, “The Reckoning,” which described the history of the Nissan Motor Company after World War II and the Years of Starvation in Japan. It showed pretty clearly how the hubris, greed, and stupidity of the top management in Detroit destroyed the American auto industry. They eventually learned, but still haven’t “got it.”
@Moonbat – you’ve hit on the key, but perhaps you didn’t realize, there’s a provision in the Clean Air Act that allows California to set higher emission standards than the Federal Government. Currently the EPA standards have been high enough to satisfy them, so they haven’t. 40% of all cars sold in the U.S. have to meet California emission standards for some reason or another. It is entirely infeasible for auto makers to produce separate fleets to different standards. Therefore, the Feds cannot enforce standards lower than what California decrees. Or perhaps I should phrase it, the auto makers are going to have to abide by whichever set of standards is higher. Of Course the Trumpistas are determined to repeal the Clean Air Act, so there’s that. We live in interesting times.
“This is going to be a new era for American jobs and job creation,†Trump said.”
“Trump’s announcement comes amid a lobbying blitz from a coalition of the world’s largest vehicle makers, which complained in a letter to the new administration that the existing EPA rules place unreasonable and expensive demands on the industry. The appetite for next-generation vehicles has waned amid plunging gas prices, and automakers are increasingly turning to small SUVs to drive profits.”
Trump says jobs, but what he means is profits. The trickling down is going to be huge!
WOW!
My comment disappeared!
Into internet purgtory, I guess.
Not even into moderation.
It must really be BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!!! 😉
GM just laid off 1000 autoworkers in MI
Where was trump
Meeting the CAFE standards has always been a pain to the car companies. People like nice, big, and powerful cars and will pay top dollar for them. That means you have to bump up the fleet average with tiny cars with great gas mileage and you have to price them low so people buy them.
I’m not sure if the Prius makes a good margin or not – but most high mileage cars are actually sold at a small loss to offset the mileage of the big, heavy, poor-mileage cars that make big bucks.
If you have to raise fleet averages, you need to invest a nice chunk of change at this point – they’re not going to get more mileage out of, e.g, body shape to reduce drag, or tires with better rolling friction but sufficient stopping power; they’ve gotten all the long hanging fruit. So they’d love to have those regs removed so they can make more money, and not “waste” it in bumping up mileage.
But it’s not hurting them directly, no more so than limits on mercury emissions hurt coal plants – since all coal plants are competing on an equal footing, the best management and technology will make the best profit. In point of fact, if you want a lot of jobs, keeping the CAFE regs in place will probably mean more jobs because it means more work as the car companies are trying to meet those standards. Removing them will increase corporate profits, but only idiots think that means “more jobs”.
“Wait, why don’t more profits mean more jobs?”
Because ‘profits’ aren’t the measure; *cash flow* is a better measure for job creation. More profits, caused by higher margins, generally means the same number, or fewer, jobs.
Just another example of what’s increasingly evident about what the right calls conservatism. It is an ideology short on reason and common sense, driven mostly by feats, hatreds and emotions. Which explains crap like this and the trap the GOP has built for itself around their numbs ACA repeal and replace mania.
I guess I am off-topic; but, I heard something interesting on Morning Joe this morning–a show I rarely watch. Everyone on the show referred to Angela Merkel as the leader of the free world now. America under president* is no longer considered leader of the free world. I guess the problem is that trump* probably doesn’t care because his goal appears to be to create a dictatorship. Yet, it used to be a point of pride for America to be the leader of the free world.
As CSM notes the right is short on reason and common sense, one of the “tells” is that they seem to harp on exactly these attributes. If the people that you want to influence lack certain important attributes, it is prudent to lead them to believe that you recognize those same attributes in them, especially if the opposing tribe values and identifies with them. Reason and common sense are two “biggies,” mainly because they are generally in short supply and they represent clearsightedness, but, also because they can be projected upon fears and prejudices as a means of validating them. If you can convince someone that their lower instincts and unfounded beliefs are actually indicative of a higher order of thought, they will follow you anywhere, especially if they feel vulnerable and insecure.
I think you’re right about electric cars. I’ve heard that the Tesla can do 0 to 60 in under three seconds. That doesn’t appeal to me, but, it should siphon off some of the muscle car fanatics. I’d prefer some little boxy thing like the first Scions, but, electric. I’d be building a windmill for recharging tout de suite.
So in just about 144 hours they want to vote on Ryandon’tcare. President Trump says he backs it 100 percent, with a few changes. So I’m sure he will stick around this weekend for some of his vaunted negotiation skills, right? Right?