EPA announces tighter smog regulations on heavy trucks

EPA Acting Administrator Andrew WheelerThe EPA has loosened or eliminated a lot of regulations since President Trump took office, but last week the agency announced it would tighten regulations on emissions of nitrogen oxides from heavy trucks such as semis. The EPA notes that smog-forming NOx emissions from heavy trucks fell 40 percent between 2007 and 2017 after the agency last...

California girds for battle with EPA over fuel economy

Traffic at the I-10 & I-405 interchange in Los Angeles, California (by Mario Roberto Duran Ortiz)Last Friday, California released a 400-page repudiation of the Trump administration's plan to freeze fuel economy standards and revoke California's statutory right to set its own limits on vehicle emissions. The report comes in response to the EPA and NHTSA's proposed Safer Affordable Fuel Efficient Vehicles Rule, which would undo fuel-economy...

EPA dissolves boards of pollution scientists

Smokestacks pollution air qualityThe EPA has dismissed two panels of outside scientists that advised the agency on particulate matter and ground-level ozone, which have been linked to smog and respiratory problems. Under acting administrator Andrew Wheeler, a former coal-industry lobbyist, analyzing those pollutants will be left to the EPA's internal Clean Air Scientific Advisory...

Deadline for comments on EPA fuel-economy rollback is Tuesday

EPA Acting Administrator Andrew WheelerReaders who want to make their voices heard in objection to (or support of) the EPA proposal to freeze fuel economy standards have until tomorrow to get their comments in. The EPA proposed in early August to undo Obama-era rules requiring cars to reach increasingly stringent fuel-economy targets through 2025. Called the Safer Affordable...

UCS report shows electric cars get even cleaner in 2018

UCS 2016 EV emissions mpg mapElectric cars keep getting cleaner, despite efforts by the EPA and NHTSA to roll back pollution standards on cars and powerplants. That's the conclusion of the latest report from the Union of Concerned Scientists which annually measures the environmental impact of driving an electric car. The study rates the environmental impact relative to gas...

California overrules EPA emissions freeze for cars sold in the state

Smog over Los Angeles, courtesy Flickr user steven-bussAt its meeting on Friday, the California Air Resources Board officially confirmed that it will stick with planned increases in emissions and fuel economy standards for cars sold in the state. The move was expected after CARB said in August that it would not follow the Trump Administration's move to freeze federal emissions and fuel economy...

Trump fuel-economy proposal writes off rising global temperatures

Smokestacks pollution air qualityIt's not that the Trump administration doesn't believe in climate change. It just doesn't want to do anything about it. In a 500-page draft environmental impact statement concerning the EPA's and NHTSA's joint proposal to roll back fuel-economy and emissions regulations, the NHTSA reports that it expects global temperatures to rise by 7 degrees...

EPA reportedly plans to eliminate science office

EPA Acting Administrator Andrew WheelerScience looks to no longer be a high priority at the EPA. The New York Times reported Thursday that the EPA plans to eliminate the powerful Office of the Science Advisor, merging it with another office under the Deputy Administrator for Science. The move represents a significant demotion of the science advisory role. Previously the Office of the...

Gas guzzling now A-OK, Trump administration says

Oil well (photo by John Hill)Following news that the EPA dropped plans to keep boosting fuel-economy standards, it quietly dropped another bombshell: It's now fine to guzzle gas. Burn as much as you want. According to an AP report carried by the Detroit News, the Energy Department quietly released the news online in a memo in July in support of freezing fuel economy...

EPA plans to roll back emissions standards on power plants

Smokestacks pollution air qualityAfter wiping out plans to continue boosting fuel economy standards earlier this month, the EPA on Tuesday proposed rolling back emissions standards on electric power plants. The new proposed rule, which the EPA calls the "Affordable Clean Energy" rule, would eliminate Obama-era standards that would have required power plants to reduce carbon...

OpEd: Who pays for principle in Trump’s war on lower emissions and trade?

Exhaust emissions from tailpipe [photo: Simone Ramella, 2005, used under Creative Commons 2.0]Last week the Trump administration unveiled a broad drawdown of fuel-economy regulations that had been aimed at cutting emissions from passenger vehicles. In the 978-page proposal, administration officials argued those rules implemented by the Obama administration would create lighter, potentially more fuel-efficient vehicles that would be less...

California warns it won’t follow lower EPA fuel economy, emissions rules

Traffic at the I-10 & I-405 interchange in Los Angeles, California (by Mario Roberto Duran Ortiz)In response to an EPA proposal to freeze emissions and fuel economy standards, California said it will not honor federal vehicle certifications if the proposal goes through. "The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has proposed amending the California Low-Emission Vehicle III Greenhouse Gas Emission Regulation to ensure that cars and light-duty...