The fight between President Donald Trump and California over rollbacks of vehicle emissions standards raged on this week, as the administration was dealt a blow in court and hundreds of thousands of customers voiced their frustration at car companies siding with the administration.
A coalition of eight environmental, consumer rights and faith-based organizations on Tuesday sent a petition — which, they said, had more than 285,000 signatures — to General Motors, Toyota and Fiat Chrysler. The letter called on the companies to "focus on restoring strong national clean cars standards and state authority to limit tailpipe emissions."
In late March, the administration published the Safer Affordable Fuel Efficient Vehicles Rule, which rolled back Obama-era gas mileage standards, setting off another fight in Trump's multi-pronged attack on fuel efficiency regulations. The three auto manufacturers named in the petition had supported the administration's ongoing legal battle with California after the federal government revoked the state's longstanding ability to set its own, stringent fuel efficiency benchmarks.
David Friedman, who is the vice president of advocacy at Consumer Reports that co-signed the petition, said the Trump administration's actions would both cost consumers more money as well as ignore the problem of climate-warming emissions.
“Sometimes things are just that straightforward and that clear,” said Friedman, a previous acting head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that is the federal body overseeing the emissions standards. “It’s part of what makes the rollback and the auto companies’ efforts so shocking because the path forward is so clear.”
Spokespersons from Toyota and Fiat Chrysler did not respond to requests for comment by time of publication. Jeannine Ginivan, a spokesperson for General Motors, sent a statement that did not address the petition but argued for a national framework promoting electric vehicles as the "best way to remove automobile emissions from the environmental equation."
In a press call unveiling the SAFE rule in late March, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler said the updated standards fulfilled a Trump campaign promise to cut down costly regulations.
"The benefits of the final SAFE rule outweigh the costs and will result in thousands of lives saved," Wheeler added.
The EPA projected its new rule would make cars more affordable — lowering sticker prices by $1,000 on average — leading to newer and therefore cleaner and safer cars being purchased across the country.
However, the agency's numbers also projected these cost savings could be wiped out by losses in fuel efficiency, which would also impact the environment.
"These final standards are estimated to result in 1.9 to 2.0 additional billion barrels of fuel consumed and from 867 to 923 additional million metric tons of CO2," a government analysis published with the rule found.
Molly Rauch, a public health policy director for Moms Clean Air Force that signed onto the petition, said the fight to halt Trump's rollbacks is also about air quality.
"We’re here in a global pandemic that’s a respiratory disease,” Rauch said. “As parents, we see this as a time to really ramp up protections from air pollution because it makes our health more vulnerable to things like COVID.”
A federal appellate court on Monday overturned one part of Trump's related rollbacks, which aimed to delay an increase in penalties for car companies that did not meet requirements.
Even as Trump has been quick to call on his followers to boycott businesses that earned his displeasure, a group of large car companies broke from the administration to side with California. In mid-August, the California Air Resources Board announced that BMW, Ford, Honda, Volkswagen and Volvo would stick with state standards.
"The framework agreements are voluntary commitments that support continued annual reductions of vehicle greenhouse gas emissions through the 2026 model year, encourage innovation to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles, provide industry the certainty needed to make investments and create jobs, and save consumers money," according to CARB's announcement at the time.
According to Friedman, a 2019 Consumer Reports survey of more than 1,000 car owners found that nine-in-10 wanted to see fuel economy increase but only about a third believed auto manufacturers were committed to the issue.
"If car companies think consumers aren’t paying attention, they’re just wrong," he said.
Mark Olalde covers the environment for The Desert Sun. Get in touch at molalde@gannett.com, and follow him on Twitter at @MarkOlalde.
"car" - Google News
September 02, 2020 at 06:52AM
https://ift.tt/31MWSi2
Environment, consumer rights and faith groups call on auto makers to side with California - Desert Sun
"car" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2SUDZWE
https://ift.tt/3aT1Mvb
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Environment, consumer rights and faith groups call on auto makers to side with California - Desert Sun"
Post a Comment