Trump Administration Exploits Pandemic to Endanger Communities, Hurt Americans’ Wallets

Reckless Rollback of Clean Car Standards Hurts Consumers and Climate

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, as Americans face the growing COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump Administration has undermined our health and safety further by finalizing its rollback of the clean car standards, formally known as the corporate average fuel economy and greenhouse gas standards for light duty vehicles (or CAFE). The standards are the nation’s most influential and ambitious rules to tackle climate change, clean up air pollution and save consumers money at the pump. 

The Trump Administration’s rollback guts the current standards from annual 5% improvements to a mere 1.5%, though even that dangerously low level is likely illusory, allowing vehicles to emit nearly a billion tons more carbon dioxide over the lifetime of the cars than they would have under the Obama standards.

Preliminary analysis indicates that the rollback would increase fuel costs by more than $240 billion; result in 18,555 premature deaths; produce 1.5 billion metric tons of climate pollution (comparable to the pollution emitted by 68 coal plants operating for 5 years); and contribute to one million lost work days.

In 2012, automakers agreed to the current rules crafted by the Obama Administration and supported by states, labor groups, and environmental advocates. By 2025, the clean car standards - as originally intended - would 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.

In response, Michael Brune, Executive Director of the Sierra Club, released the following statement:

“Shame on the Trump Administration for exploiting the cover of a pandemic to roll back the clean car standards, which are crucial public health safeguards. As families face a growing health and economic crisis, Donald Trump and Andrew Wheeler’s action endangers communities, exacerbates the climate emergency, and takes money out of people’s wallets. Trump and Wheeler’s priority should be protecting the climate and public health and lessening the economic burden on the American people, not padding the pockets of Big Oil at the expense of everyone else. 

“This dangerous rollback shouldn’t be happening now or ever. The clean car standards are America’s strongest policies we have to fight the climate crisis, protect public health, and save consumers at the pump, and the Sierra Club will continue to use every tool possible to defend them.”

Background: That this rollback was a bad idea was clear as soon as the Trump Administration entered office in 2017 and signaled its intention to reverse the Obama Administration’s ambitious but achievable standards.

Only a month ago, the rule was reportedly a complete disaster, described as “Swiss cheese,” with over 100 sections still marked “text forthcoming”. The cost-benefit analysis showed that consumers would lose more money than they would gain. EPA’s own Science Advisory Board recently issued a report stating that the current, strong clean car standards “might provide a better outcome for society” than the proposed rollback.