Has the big car learned its lesson? He begs Trump not to break emissions rules

American automakers plan to ask Trump to keep President Biden’s EPA Emissions Rulesdespite signs that Mr Trump may try to reverse them. If the rules are changed, it will cost Americans hundreds of billions of dollars and thousands of deaths per year.

Interestingly, this is the opposite of what the major automakers did the last time a reality show came to the White House – signaling that they may have learned their lesson this time.

First, a little history.

In the mid-20th century, the impact of human activity on the atmosphere became apparent. Some cities—most notably Los Angeles—were choked with smog, and it soon became clear that the main cause of the smog was pollution from vehicles.

Because Los Angeles was one of the world’s most smog-choked cities, California led the way in regulating clean air, creating the California Air Resources Board in 1967 (under then-Governor Ronald Reagan).

The federal government has given California special permission to set stricter rules than the rest of the country in recognition that its major metropolitan area has a unique smog problem. California has since retained this permission in the form of a “waiver.” And other states can follow California’s rules, but only if they copy all the rules exactly.

So ever since then, there have been two separate sets of clean air regulations in this country: the federal rules and then the “CARB states” that follow California’s rules.

That finally changed in 2012, when President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency negotiated with California to finally harmonize these standards and provide greater fuel efficiency across the country. This would be a huge boon to both industry and consumers by saving money and providing regulatory certainty to the auto industry.

But then, in 2016, the candidate who received the second most votes in the presidential election headed to the White House. And the automakers responded immediately lobby for the removal of these standardseven before the inauguration.

Now you might be thinking that asking the extremely ignorant man who ended up staffing the Environmental Protection Agency science deniers bought and sold (ha, that would be will never happen again, will it??), changing rules that had already been established through years of negotiations and lobbying was not the best idea. And you would be right.

Not long after automakers had the stupid idea of ​​asking an idiot to fix something that wasn’t broken, that idiot went ahead and broke things further, breaking the agreement between California and the federal government and providing less regulatory certainty for automakers.

Realizing their mistake (which they could have avoided by thinking about it in advance), the major car companies relented and asked the government please do not make kickbacks automakers asked. Some companies even entered into their own agreement with California.

But it was too late, and we are now back in an era of disparate regulatory regimes—something that John Bozzella, head of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation (formerly called Global Automakers), continues to complain about these days, even though this is exactly what he lobbied for. first of all.

The EPA and California are still not fully harmonized, but both have recently issued new standards that have somewhat similar goals. If a manufacturer adheres to one set of rules, he probably won’t be too far off from adhering to another.

So in the end we got stricter emissions regulations, and California continues to push for clean air regulations, thereby signaling Trump’s failure to cause the long-term harm to Americans that he and his oil industry lawyers I so desperately wish.

The latest EPA standards, completed in March (after relaxation at the request of the auto industry), do not require any specific powertrain, but rather require drastic reductions in emissions – and electric vehicles are the easiest way to achieve emissions reductions.

Notably, Tesla lobbied for the adoption of this latest set of standards. strongerand they also lobbied against crushing the Obama/California standards in 2016, being one of the very few automakers that were on the right side of this debate.

Even though President Biden’s EPA regulations do not mandate any specific powertrain, Mr. Trump, in his usual ignorance, has stated that he will end the non-existent EV mandate. And now that he has won more votes than his opponent for the first time (after three tries and despite treason in 2021, for which there is a clear remedy), it looks like the upcoming EPA may be tasked with putting an end to these emissions cuts. and savings on fuel and health care costs for Americans.

But in this case, it looks like automakers might actually do the right thing this time and ask the government No make any kickbacks and instead allow them to continue with their plans unhindered by a convicted criminal who seems determined to concede US EV boom back to China.

Detroit’s Big Three automakers – GM, Ford and Stellantis – as reported trying to figure out how to ensure that these rules remain in effect. The mentality is that constantly changing regulations do not benefit companies – especially in the automotive industry, where models take about 7 years to plan and implement. Long-term planning is important for hundreds of billions of investments in production that electric vehicles have gained US attention during Biden’s promotion of electric vehicles.

This attitude is remarkable given that it is No what automakers did in 2016/2017. Then they obsessively insisted on reducing the number of rules, and now they demand that the rules remain in place.

It’s also notable that Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whose company has lobbied hard to reduce emissions and makes more use of the federal electric vehicle tax credit than any other company, is now associated with the very organization that looking for harm to electric vehicles. It seems that we have found ourselves in the opposite world.

So it remains to be seen where we will go next – on the one hand, doctors, nurses, scientists, environmental groups, many enterprises, people who admit that they have lungs that they would like to continue usingetc. tend to support the strictest possible regulation. Now automakers have been added to the pile, demanding strict regulations.

On the other hand, the former reality TV host, who was accompanied by the CEO of a company that has sold more electric vehicles than any other, seems determined to kill off electric vehicles despite the harm it would cause to Americans’ wallets and health insurance premiums. And this notoriously vindictive character may be pushed further into this harmful course of action after his attempts failed the first time.

Who do you have?

---

Charge your electric car at home with rooftop solar panels. Find a reliable solar panel installer near you at a competitive price for EnergySagefor free. They have pre-vetted installers who compete for your business, providing high-quality solutions and savings of 20-30%. It’s free, no sales calls until you select an installer. Compare personalized solar energy quotes online and get advice from impartial energy advisors. Begin Here. – announcement*