In a letter released earlier this week, U.S. Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) called on Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Elaine Chao and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt to withdraw a proposal to roll back fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions standards.
The controversial plan weakens these national standards considerably and overrides state standards allowed for in the Clean Air Act. The Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, of which Carper is the ranking Democrat member, earlier obtained the draft proposed rule.
Specifically, that proposal calls for model year standards to be frozen from 2020 through 2026 and for all air conditioning refrigerant leakage, nitrous oxide, and methane emissions to be exempt from all tailpipe CO2 compliance standards while stripping California’s authority to designate independent tailpipe greenhouse gas emissions. It also tosses aside the statutory requirement that energy conservation should be considered when setting fuel economy standards and in general increases potential air pollution.
“Such a proposal, if finalized, would harm U.S. national and economic security, undermine efforts to combat global warming pollution, create regulatory and manufacturing uncertainty for the automobile industry and unnecessary litigation, increase the number of gasoline consumers would have to buy, and runs counter to statements that both of you have made to Members of Congress,” Carper wrote. “I urge you to immediately disavow this proposal and instead work to negotiate a ‘win-win’ solution on federal fuel economy and tailpipe emissions standards that can be supported by both the automobile industry and the State of California.”
Carper continued, stating that the proposal was not only legally questionable but frivolous and fundamentally irresponsible by and large. He took umbrage with claims in the proposal that there were increased costs associated with fuel-efficient technologies, labeling them as lacking justification. He also pointed to several assumptions made therein about vehicle safety and driving habits that he noted were not only outdated but outright disproven.
“I urge you in the strongest possible terms to abandon this extreme and reckless approach, and to put the Administration on a more responsible path,” Carper wrote.