By Umair Irfan
The Environmental Protection Agency is rolling back one of the biggest, most impactful environmental regulations of the Obama era, giving a boost to America’s big three automakers while undercutting a smaller manufacturer with a cult following.
EPA officials announced Monday afternoon that they intend to weaken greenhouse gas and fuel economy standards for cars and trucks as a favor to automakers. “[I]n light of recent data, the current standards are not appropriate and should be revised,” the agency said in a statement.
The current rules were designed to limit carbon emissions and pollution from transportation, which has overtaken the power sector to become America’s biggest climate problem and remains the largest source of air pollution. The standards would avert 570 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, equivalent to stopping 140 typical coal-fired power plants for a year, the Union of Concerned Scientists has estimated.
They’d save consumers money too. According to Margo Oge, former head of the EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality, the fuel savings alone through 2025 would add up to $1.7 trillion.
Continue reading at Vox…