E.P.A. Prepares to Roll Back Rules Requiring Cars to Be Cleaner and More Efficient

The New York Times details the E.P.A’s plan to roll back regulatory burdens on lawmakers, and cites Myron Ebell, the Director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Instite. 

While Mr. Pruitt’s proposal to open up the Obama rules to review isn’t expected to include specific targets, “The proposed rollback is going to be quite a significant number,” said Myron Ebell, who led Mr. Trump’s E.P.A. transition team and directs the energy and environment policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a Washington research organization that questions the established science of human-caused climate change. “It will be more than a couple m.p.g.,” he said.

If the legal fight between California and the Trump administration escalates, one possibility is that the federal government might try to revoke the waiver allowing California to set its own rules. Some presidents, including George W. Bush, have considered revoking the waiver, but none have tried.

The announcement by Mr. Pruitt was not expected to include a decision on challenging the waiver.

Mr. Ebell suggested that one possible legal tactic for the Trump administration could be to announce that it will refuse to renew the current waiver on tailpipe emissions, which expires in 2025, rather than to revoke it outright. That would likely delay a court fight until California moves to set standards that go beyond 2025.

Read the full article here.