Press Release: 2020-03-31

Trump Steers Toward Climate Catastrophe by Rolling Back Vehicle Standards

Trump Steers Toward Climate Catastrophe by Rolling Back Vehicle Standards

Statement by Ken Kimmell, President, Union of Concerned Scientists

Published Mar 30, 2020

WASHINGTON (March 30, 2020)—The Trump administration is set to issue a final rule dramatically rolling back vehicle emissions and efficiency standards. The administration is advancing this rule in the midst of a national public health crisis. This is a failure for consumers and the climate, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).

Below is a statement by Ken Kimmell, president of UCS.

“President Trump and his appointees at the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation have willfully abandoned their responsibilities. The administration is unraveling the biggest and most successful climate policy on the books, one that has also saved consumers millions of dollars in gasoline costs, cut air pollution, and helped grow the auto industry.

“This new rule leaves the country worse off. In the near term, it’s a massive transfer of tens of billions of dollars from drivers to oil companies, as consumers will spend more on gasoline due to less efficient cars. It also cedes American leadership in vehicle manufacturing, putting the automakers at risk in a global market. In the long term, it’s even worse—a deliberate decision to steer us at high speed toward a more dangerous climate.

“To add insult to injury, the Trump administration has barely even attempted to justify this new rule, basing its decision on flimsy or outright false arguments. The stated rationale defies common sense, science, and the public interest. This new rule will face a difficult test in the federal courts, which should have no patience for this kind of shoddy reasoning."

This rule is the second part of the administration’s efforts to roll back vehicle emissions standards, which began with their rollback of state authority to set vehicle emissions standards last fall.