California deal interrupts White House emissions rollback effort

Southern California traffic - by flickr user David R. BlumeRancor in the White House over the move by four automakers to strike a side deal with California over emissions and fuel-economy rules looks likely to further delay President Trump's plans to roll back the Obama-era standards. That's the conclusion of a report Tuesday in The New York Times, which cited four people familiar with the talks. After...

California sues Trump administration again over fuel economy fines

Traffic at the I-10 & I-405 interchange in Los Angeles, California (by Mario Roberto Duran Ortiz)California launched another lawsuit against the Trump administration over fuel economy regulations on Friday, this time over a federal decision to suspend planned increases in penalties for automakers who miss required targets. In announcing the lawsuit, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra accused the Trump administration of trying to make...

Report: EPA delays proposed fuel economy plan until September—or later

Southern California traffic - by flickr user David R. BlumeThe EPA's plans to freeze fuel economy and emissions standards have been put on hold until at least Labor Day, sources familiar with the plans told Bloomberg earlier this week. Last August, the EPA released its long-anticipated proposal to unwind the steadily rising fuel-economy standards put in place in 2012 under President Obama, in part to...

Trump administration freezes fines for fuel-economy violations

2019 Ram 1500 Laramie LonghornThe EPA hasn't yet released its final ruling on a proposal to freeze fuel economy standards. However, a different federal agency—NHTSA—has finalized a rule to freeze fines on automakers who exceed the standards. The fines have been set at $5.50 per 0.1 mpg, per car the automakers produce that doesn't meet the standards, since 1997...

23 states now oppose EPA fuel economy freeze

Smog over Los Angeles, courtesy Flickr user steven-bussThe number of states that oppose President Trump's efforts to freeze emissions and fuel economy standards is growing. In June last year, 16 states and Washington, DC, sued the federal government over the proposal before it was even released. On Tuesday, governors of 23 states plus Puerto Rico released a joint statement urging the Trump...

Senate confirms coal lobbyist Wheeler as EPA head

EPA Acting Administrator Andrew WheelerThe Senate on Thursday confirmed acting EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler to head the agency. Since Wheeler became the acting administrator last July, he has released plans to unwind rising emissions and attendant fuel economy standards enacted under President Obama, and to rescind California's half-century-old authority to set tighter emissions...

EPA cuts off fuel-economy talks with California

Freeway, Los Angeles, 2009 (photo by Myriam Thyes via Wikimedia)The Trump administration has ended talks with California aimed at settling their differences over increasing fuel economy and tightening emissions regulations, Reuters reported Thursday, citing an unnamed government official. In August, the EPA, led by Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler, released a proposal to freeze emissions and associated fuel...

Ford investigates its own fuel-economy testing methods

2019 Ford RangerFord announced on Thursday that it opened an investigation into the fuel economy testing it does to receive official EPA ratings and federal certification to sell its vehicles in the U.S. The company plans to start by retesting its 2019 Ranger midsize pickup, after employees raised concerns through Ford's internal reporting channel called Speak...

Mileage or money? Fiat Chrysler pays for missing fuel economy targets

 2019 Ram 1500 North EditionIt turns out there's more than one way for automakers to meet fuel-economy targets. One is to develop and sell more fuel-efficient cars and trucks. The other—as demonstrated over the years by quite a few automakers—is to pay fuel economy fines to the U.S. Treasury as a course of doing business. That's the course Fiat Chrysler took for...