Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak has decided to side with California and Tesla, not Donald Trump and certain lagging automakers, on the need for cleaner cars. Governor Sisolak announced today, June 22, that Nevada would adopt California’s fuel economy regulations.
Two professional associations, both of whom say they are committed to environmental policies that benefit Americans, make for good PR but actions speak louder than words. According to an analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists, both groups have submitted comments regarding the proposed rollback of fuel economy standards that would rip the heart out of the deal they all agreed to with the Obama administration back in 2008. In fact, as bad as the rollback plan from our so-called government is, the AGA proposal is actually worse.
Politics is a weird beast. Policymakers are elected in order to enact policies to help society, but politics is largely a cultural war — or even just a series of cult of personality battles. Policy is hardly touched in the lead-up to elections, and people typically go to the polls without having learned much about the policies their representatives have supported or the policies the candidates they’re voting on would like to implement.
The EPA has announced it will freeze vehicle fuel economy standards and rescind the waiver that allows California to set its own transportation emissions standards. Car makers are jubilant, even if they won’t admit it publicly.
While the US has every reason to be proud of its efforts to clean up the skies over America, the process is one that requires continuous vigilance. The efforts of the Trump administration to roll back a broad spectrum of clean air regulations has many concerned the gains made in the past 50 years could be lost.
With the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump fast approaching, the Obama Administration has been “barreling ahead” with a number of planned auto industry regulation changes, according to recent reports.
Originally published on EV Obsession. Carbon pricing is a more cost-effective means of reducing carbon emissions than fuel-economy regulation, but fuel-economy regulations are notably more effective at reducing overall fuel use, according to new research from the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change. The new … [continued]
