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Trump Administration Will Freeze Emission Standards

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Trump AdministrationOn Thursday, the Trump administration put forth its proposal to freeze fuel-efficiency and pollutions standards for cars, weakening federal fuel efficiency policies from Obama’s era.

Last year, President Donald Trump made a similar decision: to abandon the 2015 Paris Agreement, under which many countries agreed to fight the global warming.

The new proposal from the U.S. Transportation Department and Environmental Protection Agency would roll back a 2012 rule that required car manufacturers to nearly double the fuel economy of passenger vehicles to an average 54 miles (5.2 liters / 100 km)per gallon by 2025.

Trump administration will freeze the average fuel economy standards after 2021, when it is expected to be about 36 miles per gallon (7.8 liters per 100 km). It would also take bake a permission granted to California and 13 others states to set pollution standards that are stricter than federal government’s.

The proposed policy will result in dramatically fewer electric vehicles as more people continue to drive gasoline-powered vehicles. The administration believes that the freeze would increase oil consumption by about 500,000 barrels of oil a day by the 2030s. This will prevent an increase in costs for American consumers and the elimination of jobs.

Another government’s reason to push this proposal is to save peoples’ lives. It will save 12,700 traffic fatalities (1,000 per year), by reducing the price of new vehicles, thereby motivating people to buy newer, safer vehicles. Additionally, due to the current pollution policies, car manufacturers are making lighter vehicles which are not safe. In reality, these statements are nonsense. More deaths and casualties will be caused by climate change than traffic fatalities. Additionally, the fact that the car is lighter doesn’t mean it is safer, for example, Tesla’s vehicles are incredibly safer and light at the same time.

According to Trump administration , another benefit from the policy would be billions of dollars saved by car manufacturers since they won’t have a need to invest that much into the electrification. For instance, with Obama’s rules about 70 percent of light trucks would be required to have some form of electrification by 2026, versus just 1 percent under the Trump proposal.

The administration also contends that increasing  country’s oil consumption by 2 to 3 percent over forecast levels would have a minimal impact on the environment, boosting global average temperature by just “3/1000th of a degree Celsius by 2100.”

California and some other states have stated that they are ready to fight against this proposal, and two auto trade groups representing GM, Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen, and others, said in a statement Thursday that despite the administration’s proposed freeze, “automakers support continued improvements in fuel economy and flexibilities that incentivize advanced technologies while balancing priorities like affordability, safety, jobs, and the environment.”

[Via Autoblog]

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