Trump Administration Unveils Its Plan to Relax Car Pollution Rules

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Thursday put forth its long-awaited proposal to freeze antipollution and fuel-efficiency standards for cars, significantly weakening one of President Barack Obama’s signature policies to combat global warming.

The proposed new rules would also challenge the right of states, California in particular, to set their own, more stringent tailpipe pollution standards. That would set the stage for a legal clash that could ultimately split the nation’s auto market in two.

The administration’s plans immediately faced opposition from an unusual mix of critics — including not only environmentalists and consumer groups but auto-industry representatives as well as individual states — who are now launching efforts to change the plan before it is finalized.

The plan, jointly published by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department, would roll back a 2012 rule that required automakers to nearly double the fuel economy of passenger vehicles to an average of about 54 miles per gallon by 2025. It would halt requirements that automakers build cleaner, more fuel-efficient cars including hybrids and electric vehicles.

That Obama-era rule, which aimed to cut the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions while reducing oil consumption, was opposed by automakers who said it was overly burdensome. However, Thursday’s proposal goes much further than many major automakers wanted, and manufacturers are now worried that years of legal challenges and regulatory uncertainty could complicate their business.

The governor of California, Jerry Brown, said his state was prepared to fight. “For Trump to now destroy a law first enacted at the request of Ronald Reagan five decades ago is a betrayal and an assault on the health of Americans everywhere,” he said.

Read more: (Includes video) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/02/climate/trump-auto-emissions-california.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage



Xavier Becerra, center, the California attorney general, with Gov. Jerry Brown and Mary Nichols, head of the California Air Resources Board. Mr. Becerra has vowed to fight the Trump administration’s proposal. CreditRich Pedroncelli/Associated Press