AUTO INDUSTRY/CLIMATE CHANGE/EPA/REGULATIONS/TRANSPORTATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration on Thursday [8-2-18] unveiled its long-awaited proposal to dramatically weaken an Obama-era regulation designed to limit vehicle emissions, which contribute to climate change. The publication of the proposal sets up a race among opponents of the change — an unusual mix of environmentalists, automakers, consumer groups and states — to temper the plan before it is finalized this year. The proposal would freeze rules requiring automakers to build cleaner, more fuel-efficient cars, including hybrids and electric vehicles, and unravel one of President Barack Obama’s signature policies to combat global warming. It would also challenge the right of states to set their own, more stringent tailpipe pollution standards, setting the stage for a legal clash that could ultimately split the nation’s auto market in two. The Trump administration’s proposal, jointly published by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department, would roll back a 2012 rule that required automakers to nearly double the fuel economy of passenger vehicles to an average of about 54 miles per gallon by 2025. That rule, which would have significantly cut the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions while saving billions of barrels of oil, was opposed by automakers who said it was overly burdensome.”
–Coral Davenport, “Trump Unveils His Plan to Weaken Fuel Efficiency Rules,” The New York Times online, August 2, 2018