Top Trump Officials Clash Over Plan to Let Cars Pollute More

[Rhiannon12866]

WASHINGTON — Senior administration officials are clashing over President Trump’s plan to roll back a major environmental rule and let cars emit more tailpipe pollution, according to 11 people familiar with the confrontation, in a dispute over whether the proposal can withstand legal challenge.

The rollback, one of the most consequential proposals of the Trump administration, not only would permit more planet-warming pollution from cars, it would also challenge the right of California and other states to set their own, more restrictive state-level pollution standards.

On one side is the Environmental Protection Agency’s acting chief, Andrew Wheeler, who has tried to put the brakes on the plan, fearing that its legal and technical arguments are weak and will set up the Trump administration for an embarrassing courtroom loss. Mr. Wheeler inherited the proposal from his predecessor, Scott Pruitt, who resigned on July 5 under a cloud of ethics investigations.

On the other side are top officials at the Transportation Department, Jeffrey A. Rosen and Heidi King, two of the proposal’s chief authors.

Mr. Rosen, a former George W. Bush administration official known for his zeal to undo federal regulations, is pushing the controversial proposal on the expectation that by the time any challenge makes it to the Supreme Court, the court’s makeup will be more friendly to a conservative, anti-regulatory policy, according to individuals familiar with his thinking.


Much more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/27/climate/trump-auto-pollution-rollback.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage



Jeffrey A. Rosen, the deputy transportation secretary, is pushing an aggressive rollback proposal with the expectation that any legal challenge would end up before a more conservative Supreme Court. Credit: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

[tirebiter]

1. There'd be no market for this

Not foreign and not domestic. These pieces of shit would not sell. Indidual cases mybe somebody would like a 442 with glass pacs. But those designs would have to be restored. This whole idea is already dead.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. Exactly! The automakers aren't in favor of this

The rest of the world is moving forward, nobody is going to want cars that aren't fuel efficient...

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

3. A report says 100,000/year would die because fuel efficient cars are just too darned light.

The report was put together by department members appointed by Trump assisted by members of the automobile manufacturing industry.

This is a new one. If their rationale is accepted, it would permanently kill all attempts to make cars more fuel efficient because fuel efficient equals lighter cars equals lots more deaths. Redesigning lighter cars to make them more crash resistant doesn't enter the picture.

Is there any part of this administration that isn't just plain evil? That's a rhetorical question.