NJ Sues Trump Admin Over Rolling Back Fuel Efficiency Standards

New Jersey is joining with sixteen other states and the District of Columbia to sue the Trump administration over its decision to roll back vehicle fuel efficiency standards. The tailpipe pollution regulations were among President Obama’s major initiatives to reduce global warming. They would require automakers to build passenger cars that achieve an average of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, compared with about 36 miles per gallon today. Eventually achieving those targets would have drastically reduced the nation’s vehicle tailpipe pollution, which accounts for about a third of the United States’ total greenhouse gas emissions.

“It’s critical for the air we breathe that New Jersey is standing with the 16 other states and suing the Trump Administration’s attack on our lungs. We’re in court with 16 other states to tell Trump that he won’t get away with rolling back these vehicle fuel efficiency standards. Adopting these standards would save us money, create green jobs, and grow our economy. Instead, the Trump Administration wants to side with the oil companies and auto industry for more pollution and wasted gasoline. By requiring us to buy more fuel, it will raise the price, which will be a double whammy on our wallets. It will cost the average driver $3,000 and the average light truck $4,000 for fuel. Instead of driving our economy forward with cleaner vehicles, Trump is working to increase greenhouse gas emissions, which cost us more money and exacerbate climate impacts,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “We are fighting back by suing the Administration for their attempts to roll back these important standards.”

The tailpipe pollution regulations were among President Obama’s major initiatives to reduce global warming. They would have forced automakers to build passenger cars that achieve an average of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, compared with about 36 miles per gallon today. Eventually achieving those targets would have drastically reduced the nation’s vehicle tailpipe pollution, which accounts for about a third of the United States’ total greenhouse gas emissions. After withdrawing the Obama administration’s requirement for model years 2022 through 2025, the Trump administration will have a year to put forth an alternative set of efficiency standards, which will likely rollback the standards significantly.

“We must fight the Trump Administration’s fossil fuel agenda and that is why we are suing them. Instead, we should be moving forward with electric vehicles, green jobs, and cost savings for consumers. Rolling back these standards is a huge blow to consumers who want electric and hybrid vehicles, which decreases our impact on climate change. Now the federal government is working with auto makers and the oil and gas industry to rollback standards. Not only does Big Oil make more money on the deal, but car companies will save money because they won’t have to install the extra equipment,” said Jeff Tittel. “People should be angry that the auto industry is pushing for this because it will make our air dirtier and our fuel more expensive. It will even hurt jobs in the auto industry because the cleaner less polluting vehicles are made in the United States so these weakened standards will make it easier to export jobs to other countries.”

In 2017, a coalition of the 17 largest auto makers in the United States sent two letters to Scott Pruitt, asking him to revisit the tailpipe rules. They said it may be “the single most important decision the E.P.A. has made in recent history.” They complained about the steep technical challenge posed by the stringent standard, noting that only about 3.5 percent of new vehicles are able to reach it. That even excludes some hybrid cars, plug-in electric cars and fuel cell vehicles, the automakers wrote. The companies told Trump last month that they found those technical requirements too burdensome. The regulatory rollback on vehicle pollution will relax restrictions on tailpipe emissions of carbon dioxide and will not require action by Congress.

“It’s more critical than ever that we fight to protect fuel efficiency standards and other environmental protections threatened by the Trump Administration. The weakening of vehicle efficiency standards will directly impact public health in New Jersey. For a state like New Jersey, these changes will hit us right where we believe because cars and trucks are the biggest sources of air pollution. Their actions will heavily increase our depends on oil, gas, and coal over things like solar and wind. This will increase proposals for dangerous pipelines like Pilgrim, while exacerbating the demand for oil bomb trains and offshore drilling,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “We applaud New Jersey for joining this lawsuit and urge them to join other suits against Trump’s rollbacks including the methane rules and Clean Power Plan.