The United States federal government under President Donald Trump has been posturing to roll back previously implemented legislation that placed mandatory standards for fuel efficiency and exhaust emissions. Under the stewardship of the (equally) embattled Scott Pruitt, newly appointed director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Obama-era laws are set to be annulled.
Pruitt’s maintains that those legislations under the previous administration were ‘not appropriate’ and ‘unrealistic’, and that the Clean Air Act resulted in restrictions that were of little to no benefit, but does not provide much grounding for his agency’s new stance. However, he did say that these strict laws were inhibiting manufacturers from making cars that people both want and afford.
Rolling back emissions regulations would obviously allow automakers to be more lax in ensuring the least amount of harm comes to the environment, specifically the air, as a result of combustion emission byproducts such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide. In large quantities and in high enough concentration, these poisonous gases can severely impair breathing and visibility in cities, or large scale changes in climate if left unchecked.
Pruitt and the agency he runs have come under fire succumbing to the influence of automakers instead of having the best interest of the people and the environment, as well as a number of other obscure ethics scandals. That said, the state of California has maintained their own - even stricter - standards for exhaust emissions and fuel economy, which will continue to be enforced. However, the EPA director has expressed the intent to put that under review.
In a statement April 2nd, he said: “Cooperative federalism doesn’t mean that one state can dictate standards for the rest of the country. The EPA will set a national standard for greenhouse gas emissions that allows manufacturers to make cars that people both want and can afford, while still expanding the environmental and safety benefits of new cars.”
The regulation roll back would undo the requirements for automakers to reach an average fuel economy of 54.5mpg or roughly 4.3-litres/100km by 2025, in line with the Paris Climate Accord that President Trump said the USA would be leaving. Left untouched, these laws would prevent 6 billion metric tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere and save 12 billions barrels of oil.
Since the announcement earlier this month, TIME reports that even individual automakers have stayed publicly silent on the topic, perhaps worrying that these rollbacks would be too regressive and a long term detriment to their bottom line as well as the environment.
