Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Credit: Tom Williams/ Getty
The Trump administration’s plan to weaken federal rules on vehicle emissions could lead to the Supreme Court re-examining a major climate case that defined carbon dioxide as an air pollutant.
EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are expected to launch a rewrite of the tailpipe rules as soon as this week. It’s expected to freeze fuel economy targets at 2020 levels through 2026, allowing automakers to build cars that travel about 30 miles per gallon of gas rather than 36 miles.
The administration is also expected to target a legal waiver that lets California set tougher standards to address historical smog problems. EPA might argue that the state’s authority over air pollution only extends to local pollutants, not global greenhouse gas emissions. Or the agency could seek to revoke the waiver entirely. That could kill the state’s effort to address climate change through a program requiring automakers to sell “zero emission” vehicles.
It’s likely to ignite a legal battle between EPA and California, plus 12 […]
The industry has pushed SUV’s (stupid useless vehicles) for decades as an alternative to cars. What few realize or know is that SUV’s are considered in the same category as light trucks. As a result, they do not have to meet the same stringent standards for emissions as cars. The other scenario is that catalytic converters are only mandated to maintain emissions at or near the maximum speed limit of major highways. Well above those limits, the converters do not completely ‘convert’.