Morning Ag Clips logo
  • Subscribe ❯
  • PORTAL ❯
  • LOGIN ❯
  • By Keyword
  • By topic
  • By state
  • Home
  • Events
  • Jobs
  • Store
  • Advertise
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Subscribe to our
    daily email
    ❯
  • Portal Registration❯
  • Login❯
  • policy
  • tractors & machinery
  • education
  • conservation
  • webinars
  • business
  • dairy
  • cattle
  • poultry
  • swine
  • corn
  • soybeans
  • organic
  • specialty crops
  • Alabama
  • Alaska
  • Arizona
  • Arkansas
  • California
  • Colorado
  • Connecticut
  • Delaware
  • Florida
  • Georgia
  • Hawaii
  • Idaho
  • Illinois
  • Indiana
  • Iowa
  • Kansas
  • Kentucky
  • Louisiana
  • Maine
  • Maryland
  • Massachusetts
  • Michigan
  • Minnesota
  • Mississippi
  • Missouri
  • Montana
  • Nebraska
  • Nevada
  • New Hampshire
  • New Jersey
  • New Mexico
  • New York
  • North Carolina
  • North Dakota
  • Ohio
  • Oklahoma
  • Oregon
  • Pennsylvania
  • Rhode Island
  • South Carolina
  • South Dakota
  • Tennessee
  • Texas
  • Utah
  • Vermont
  • Virginia
  • Washington
  • West Virginia
  • Wisconsin
  • Wyoming

Morning Ag Clips

  • By Keyword
  • By topic
  • By state
  • policy
  • tractors & machinery
  • education
  • conservation
  • webinars
  • business
  • dairy
  • cattle
  • poultry
  • swine
  • corn
  • soybeans
  • organic
  • specialty crops
  • Home
  • Events
  • Jobs
  • Store
  • Advertise
Home ยป EPA: US needs single standard for fuel efficiency
FUEL STANDARDS ... Comments

EPA: US needs single standard for fuel efficiency

Proposal is expected to freeze some future Obama-era mileage goals

PUBLISHED ON July 25, 2018

A draft of the EPA proposal obtained last spring by Democratic Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware said the Trump administration was considering freezing the fuel standard at 2020 levels for the next five years. (KOMUnews, Flickr/Creative Commons; Charles Minshew/KOMU)

WASHINGTON (AP) โ€” The acting head of the Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday that the United States needs a single standard for fuel efficiency for cars and trucks, signaling a possible showdown with California and other states that could throw the car market into turmoil.

Andrew Wheeler spoke to a small group of reporters at EPA headquarters, ahead of a Trump administration proposal that’s expected to freeze some future Obama-era mileage goals. The Trump administration also has said it’s looking at challenging California’s authority to set its own, tougher mileage standards.

“What we don’t want to see is two different standards for the country,” Wheeler said, calling for a “50-state solution” to disputes over mileage standards.

A program for steadily increasing fuel efficiency rules was a key part of the Obama administration’s effort to combat climate-changing emissions from fossil fuel.

California has had the authority under the half-century-old Clean Air Act to set its own standards, with a special rule allowing the state to curb its chronic smog problem. More than a dozen states follow California’s standards, making for a significant part of the country’s car market.

Wheeler said he was committed to sitting down with California officials after the Trump administration releases its proposals, expected as soon as this week.

“We certainly want to work with the state of California to make sure they’re comfortable with the direction the government wants to go,” he said.

A draft of the EPA proposal obtained last spring by Democratic Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware said the Trump administration was considering freezing the fuel standard at 2020 levels for the next five years. Under the proposal, the fleet of new vehicles would have to average roughly 30 mpg in real-world driving, and that wouldn’t change through at least 2025.

The Obama administration had proposed tougher standards โ€” 36 mpg by 2025. California and automakers agreed to the rules in 2012, setting a single national fuel economy standard.

California has joined 16 other states and the District of Columbia to sue the EPA to try to block any weakening of the standards.

Trump named Wheeler, then the environmental agency’s deputy administrator, as acting head after Administrator Scott Pruitt resigned this month amid unrelenting ethics scandals.

Wheeler spoke favorably about two policy issues inherited from Pruitt. One was an initiative to bolster consideration of costs in making some regulatory decisions. The other was a sweeping proposal to change what science the EPA considers in making regulations by giving the agency’s chief the option to disregard scientific studies if the underlying data supporting it is not made public. Supporters say that would increase transparency in EPA rulemaking.

Public hearings on the proposals have drawn mainly opponents, including scientists and health officials who say the change would throw out bedrock public-health studies that draw on confidential data on individual patients.

“I very much believe in both of those” as far as transparency and consideration of costs and benefits go, Wheeler said.

On the broader rule, “I think we can balance two competing public policy goals” for patient confidentiality and transparency, he said. “There’s got to be a way of threading that needle,” he said.

Crafting the final form of the rule on studies would happen after the period for public comment ends, Wheeler said. “I’m not positive what the final regulation” will look like, he added.

Wheeler pledged to work with all sides in a policy issue that bedeviled Pruitt โ€” a dispute between corn growers and oil and gas refiners over how much corn-based ethanol that refineries have to blend with petroleum.

–By ELLEN KNICKMEYER , Associated Press

For more articles concerning fuel, click here.

Click Here to find out more about your favorite topics

conservation biofuels

Spread the word

Browse More Clips

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue. (U.S. Department of Agriculture, Flickr/Creative Commons)

USDA assists farmers impacted by tariffs

Recalls of Ritz, Goldfish and other products issued

Primary Sidebar

MORE

NATIONAL CLIPS

Ag organizations react to passage of Inflation Reduction Act
August 14, 2022
USDA forecasts US corn down and soybean production up from 2021
August 14, 2022
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack (U.S. Department of Agriculture, Public Domain)
USDA investing $197M in partner-driven, locally led conservation
August 14, 2022
Dairy farm in Ukraine's Donbas region struggles to survive
August 14, 2022
New opportunities for farmers to adopt food safety measures
August 14, 2022
  • Trending
  • Latest

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE...

Request for proposals
August 14, 2022
USDA announces funding for partnerships to protect & restore wetlands
August 14, 2022
Partnerships to support management of wild horses and burros
August 14, 2022
Vermont Creamery joins national movement to turn food waste into renewable energy
August 14, 2022
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack (U.S. Department of Agriculture, Public Domain)
USDA investing $197M in partner-driven, locally led conservation
August 14, 2022

Footer

MORNING AG CLIPS

  • Sponsors
  • About Us
  • Advertise with Us
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • Customer & Technical Support

CONNECT WITH US

  • Like Us on Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

TRACK YOUR TRADE

  • Markets & Economy
  • Cattle Updates
  • Dairy News
  • Policy & Politics
  • Corn Alerts

QUICK LINKS

  • Account
  • Portal Membership
  • Invite Your Friends
  • Subscribe to RSS
  • WeatherTrends
  • Just Me, Kate

© 2022 Morning Ag Clips, LLC. All Rights Reserved.