dearJulius.com

Trump Puts Brakes On Fuel Economy Overregulation

Not only will it save money; it will save lives

 © Provided by The Daily Caller, Inc. Really fast compact car. (Media credit Dimitris Leonidas/Shutterstock)

By Steve Milloy, The Daily Caller

The Trump deregulation train is rolling on, this time right over two sacred cows of the progressive over-regulatory state: the Obama administration’s pointless and harmful fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks and California’s bid to usurp federal power and become the national standard setter for fuel economy and consumer car choice.

In 2012, the Obama administration issued new, more stringent fuel economy standards (called “Corporate Average Fuel Economy,” or “CAFE” standards) intended to compel car makers to raise their fleet average to 50 miles per gallon by 2025. The Trump administration may soon propose to freeze the CAFE standard at the 2020 level of 35 miles per gallon.

The Trump CAFE proposal will not only save consumers money — it will save lives.

[post_ads]The Obama CAFE mandate is estimated to raise the price of new cars by $3,000 by 2025, according to the National Auto Dealers Association. The Trump repeal is estimated by the Heritage Foundation to save car buyers at least at least $7,200 per vehicle in 2025.

Higher car prices are a regressive tax on all Americans that especially hit the poor.

The Obama administration entirely ignored safety in establishing the existing CAFE standards. You don’t need to be a physicist to understand that heavier, more “armored” cars are safer cars. In 2002, the National Academy of Sciences estimated that a CAFE standard of 27.5 miles per gallon had resulted in 2,600 extra accident fatalities in 1993.

Only the progressive regulatory state imagines that consumers want to pay more for less safe cars — all in the name of saving gasoline in a world that is awash in oil.

The CAFE program was established amid the oil price shocks and foreign oil cartel-imposed scarcity of the 1970s. But times have changed. Thanks to technological advances, the US is poised once again to be the largest producer of oil in the world.

The other key benefit of the Trump CAFE proposal is the thwarting of California’s bid to tell the rest of the nation what kind of cars it may buy.

When the Clean Air Act was amended in 1970, EPA was authorized to give California various waivers to set its own air quality-related standards. This made sense at the time because of special circumstances in California. But almost 50 years later, the circumstances have changed. California’s air is clean and safe.
[post_ads_2]
But instead of reining in California’s waivers and runaway air quality regulations, the Obama administration gave California another waiver to set its own fuel economy standards under the guise of reducing global warming. The car makers agreed to this because, after being bailed out by the federal government, they didn’t want to rock the boat and have to meet two sets of regulatory standards.

Now what many liberal California politicians want to do is ban gasoline-powered cars altogether. A bill before the California legislature would ban all gas- and diesel-powered cars by 2040.

The Trump administration is trying to bring all this under control by reasserting the federal preeminence envisioned by Congress when it wrote the relevant laws. Trump administration CAFE efforts are about cost, consumer choice and who gets to set national policy — the federal government or California.

Steve Milloy publishes JunkScience.com, is the author of “Scare Pollution: Why and How to Fx the EPA” and was on the Trump EPA transition team.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.

COMMENTS





Note: If you think this story need more information or correction, feel free to comment below your opinion and reaction.
Name

News,1761,Opinion,672,Politics,1089,US,1089,
ltr
item
Politics News: Trump Puts Brakes On Fuel Economy Overregulation
Trump Puts Brakes On Fuel Economy Overregulation
Not only will it save money; it will save lives
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE63WgMOR5Xrwfy6T9dEnpjjhNxbg5U31ylfc_bV2Ntll86Bvo4u-BPO5JiVwYonIQlocjDTGCXWeFbt1zExSOgQVN7-gz9DzyAcdKAWlCFJ-aCBScyeztpHXredM3IlnYpUNKwKYG12uU/s1600/4.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE63WgMOR5Xrwfy6T9dEnpjjhNxbg5U31ylfc_bV2Ntll86Bvo4u-BPO5JiVwYonIQlocjDTGCXWeFbt1zExSOgQVN7-gz9DzyAcdKAWlCFJ-aCBScyeztpHXredM3IlnYpUNKwKYG12uU/s72-c/4.jpg
Politics News
https://politics.dailynewsview.com/2018/07/trump-puts-brakes-on-fuel-economy.html
https://politics.dailynewsview.com/
https://politics.dailynewsview.com/
https://politics.dailynewsview.com/2018/07/trump-puts-brakes-on-fuel-economy.html
true
1094838897418048383
UTF-8
Loaded All Posts Not found any posts VIEW ALL Read More Reply Cancel reply Delete By Home PAGES POSTS View All RECOMMENDED FOR YOU LABEL ARCHIVE SEARCH ALL POSTS Not found any post match with your request Back Home Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat January February March April May June July August September October November December Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec just now 1 minute ago $$1$$ minutes ago 1 hour ago $$1$$ hours ago Yesterday $$1$$ days ago $$1$$ weeks ago more than 5 weeks ago Followers Follow THIS PREMIUM CONTENT IS LOCKED STEP 1: Share. STEP 2: Click the link you shared to unlock Copy All Code Select All Code All codes were copied to your clipboard Can not copy the codes / texts, please press [CTRL]+[C] (or CMD+C with Mac) to copy