California Sues EPA, NHTSA Over Auto Emissions Data Freeze Out

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The process of blowing up the vehicle emissions standards put in place by the Obama administration is dragging on, and on, and on. The EPA now says it will promulgate the new rules by “late spring or early summer,” according to Autoblog.

California sues EPAIn an effort to find out just what data the EPA is relying on to justify that rollback, the state of California requested that information in a Freedom of Information request which it says the federal government has ignored. In response, California sued the EPA and NHTSA on April 6. The suit seeks a court order to compel the disclosure of the data.

“This lawsuit will break down their silence and secrecy,” said Mary Nichols, chair of the California Air Resources Board. “The public has a right to see all the facts and analysis used to support a rollback that increases oil consumption, hurts consumers, and pumps more air pollution and hundreds of million tons of climate-changing gases into the atmosphere.”

Meanwhile the major automakers continue to stand on the sidelines with their thumbs up their noses hoping the hated fuel economy regulations get tossed overboard so they can continue to slowly poison every man, woman, and child in America with the pollution pouring from the tailpipes of the cars and trucks they build. Freedom may not be free, but bribing the government with untold quantities of campaign contributions is certainly good for business.

Andrew Wheeler, the former coal industry lobbyist who is slow walking the emission rollback process, had the gall last week to say he hopes California will not sue the EPA once it releases final requirements, but if it does he wants California to do it quickly “to ensure regulatory certainty.”

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How much more corrupt can one official be? On the one hand, he is taking his own sweet time releasing the new emissions proposal, making a mockery of regulatory certainty. On the other, he wants those who will be impacted by the new policy to hurry up and sue so the courts freshly packed with reactionary judges by Tramp and a compliant Senate can brush aside all such frivolous objections.

That would leave the way clear for the automakers to start raking in the dough again while they pollute America into extinction. Maybe the EPA should change its name to the Environmental Profiteering Administration?

Want more proof that the lunatics are running the asylum? Deputy NHTSA Administrator Heidi King, who was confirmed this month by the oil soaked US Senate, said last Friday that dramatically higher fuel efficiency rules can “hinder safety” by raising the price of new, safer vehicles. Her thinking is that low-income people won’t be able to buy more expensive cars, meaning they will be stuck with buying older used cars built during a time of lower vehicle safety standards — like the 1980s.

Andrew Linhardt, deputy director of the Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All campaign, begged the Senate not to confirm King.” Alongside Andrew Wheeler, Heidi King is knee deep in trying to roll back one of the most effective climate policies that our nation has, the clean car standards.

“The vote on King’s nomination cannot be buried; it demands attention and outrage given that King has failed to demonstrate she’s fit for the job. As one of the main architects behind the unpopular and dangerous rollback, it’s clear that King cares more about Big Oil interests than the well-being and wallets of consumers.”

But true to form, the Senators voted with their wallets and knuckled under to the interests of Big Oil. America is a total kleptocracy, one in which everything that isn’t nailed down is being transferred to the bank accounts of fossil fuel companies. Someday our children and grandchildren will look back and wonder why all these charlatans were not arrested and charged with crimes against humanity. And we will have no answer for them.


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Steve Hanley

Steve writes about the interface between technology and sustainability from his home in Florida or anywhere else The Force may lead him. He is proud to be "woke" and doesn't really give a damn why the glass broke. He believes passionately in what Socrates said 3000 years ago: "The secret to change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old but on building the new." You can follow him on Substack and LinkedIn but not on Fakebook or any social media platforms controlled by narcissistic yahoos.

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