For Immediate Release
Contact: Jeff Tittel, Nj Sierra Club, 609-558-9100
The Trump administration says it has cut off negotiations with California officials over the future of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions and fuel efficiency rules for cars. The Trump Administration is also moving forward on “Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule for Model Years 2021-2026 Passenger Cars and Light Trucks”. This new rule will break decades of precedent guaranteeing California’s right under the Clean Air Act to set its own air pollution standards. The rule will also cap federal fuel economy requirements at the 2020 level, which under federal law must be at least a 35-mile-per gallon fleet average, rather than letting them rise to roughly 50 mpg by 2025 which President Obama had negotiated with the auto industry and the state of California.
“In a shameful move, the Trump Administration have sold out our wallets and our lungs. Trump is siding with Big Oil and corporate polluters by breaking off talks with California. Blocking the California Waiver directly affect New Jersey’s air because we are tied to their program. This means dirty air for the people of New Jersey, more asthma and respiratory problems from tailpipe emissions, less green jobs, all while we pay more to fuel our vehicles. Blocking California will impact New Jersey more than any other state because 45% of our pollution comes from automobiles. We also get impacted because we are a corridor state getting pollution from in and out of state that are driving on our turnpikes and other major highways,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “Of all of the rollbacks and attacks on the environment, this may be one of the worst and have the biggest long-term consequences.”
California has the authority to set its own greenhouse gas rules for cars under the Clean Air Act and a waiver granted by the Obama administration. Thirteen states follow California’s standards for cars sold in their borders, representing about 40 percent of the nation's vehicle market. Trump’s decision to rollback clean car emission standards could make it much more difficult for states like New Jersey and California to set strong emissions and fuel efficiency standards. Without these requirements, now the emissions coming out of our tailpipes will be dirtier and auto makers won’t have any incentive to make electric and hybrid vehicles.
“By eliminating the CA waiver and weakening standards, New Jersey increase our dependency on dirty fuels and undermine our renewable energy use and green jobs. Each year, American passenger vehicles spew upwards of three trillion tons of carbon pollution into the air by burning about 121 billion gallons of gasoline. Trump’s actions could heavily increase our depends on oil, gas, and coal over things like solar and wind,” said Tittel. “As long as we give Big Oil & Gas a free pass to continue to drill for fossil fuels, we will never be able to combat climate change.”
The Trump Administration will rollback tailpipe regulations under the CAFE standard set by the Obama Administration. The clean car standards limit carbon pollution by 6 billion tons, save consumers $1.7 trillion dollars in fuel costs, and reduce oil consumption by up to 4 million barrels every day. Car companies already meet the California Car Standards and sell those cars across the countries. They are also working to meet the future goals. In 2016, U.S. EV sales rose 37 percent over 2015, with well over half a million Americans now driving plug-in cars Now car companies will have to retool and it will cost them to add more pollution to our air.
“In a one two punch, the Trump will block California and rollback CAFÉ standards. Instead of driving our economy forward with cleaner vehicles, Trump is working to increase greenhouse gas emissions, and make climate impacts worse. One of the big impacts of rolling back CAFE standards will cost us more at the pump. If cars are less efficient, it will force us to buy more gasoline while raising the price. This will be a double whammy on our wallets. It will cost the average driver $3,000 and the average light truck $4,000 for fuel. Auto companies are spending millions of dollars to develop clean energy and cars and now it will cost them billions of dollars to adopt to Trump’s new standards on car emissions,” said Tittel. “Trump is also trying to block a California waiver from 1992 that has saved many lives and prevented air pollution across the country and in New Jersey. The Trump Administration is siding with Big Oil over up-dated technology and public health.”
In New Jersey, the Zero Electric Vehicle (ZEV) program saves our state $4.6 billion in health care costs associated with smog and soot pollution caused by passenger vehicles. An new report on the health impacts of air pollution and toxic chemical was recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Some of the projected effects of EPA’s rollbacks to the CAFE standards for automobiles and Clean Power Plan are 41,500 deaths over a decade, 41,000 premature deaths over a decade, and 1.67 million cases of respiratory ailments over a decade, where over 50 percent of those cases are related to children respiratory ailments over a decade.
“Rolling back on both the California Waiver and CAFÉ standards will have serious long term consequences for the nation and New Jersey. New Jersey and the Sierra Club can step up and sue the Trump Administration to save our lungs and protect our economy. We must fight back to protect our clean air and stop Trump from rolling back environmental protections such as these important emissions standards. New Jersey, as well as the rest of the country needs to move forward with clean car technology and fuel efficiency,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.