Trump weakens fuel economy standards, rolling back key U.S. effort against climate change (2020)

[TomCADem]

It is almost as if Trump and other Republicans were going out of their way to make the US more dependent on oil companies.

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-03-31/trump-rolls-back-fuel-economy-standards

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Tuesday weakened one of the nation’s most aggressive efforts to combat climate change, releasing new fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks that handed a victory to the oil and gas industry.
The new rule, from the Environmental Protection Agency and Transportation Department, will almost immediately be plunged into litigation as environmental groups and states with stricter standards, led by California, plan to challenge it.

“We intend to make sure the backsliding doesn’t reach California’s doorstep,” California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra said Tuesday in announcing the state’s plan to go to court to defend its tougher standards.

If the administration’s policy survives those fights, it would spare automakers from having to meet ambitious gas mileage and emissions requirements put in place in 2012 under President Obama. It is among the biggest steps the administration has taken to reverse an existing environmental policy.

[Kittycatkat]

1. Trumpers won't be able to wrap this conundrum around their brai... around their heads.