The Trump administration is expected to consider changing gas mileage requirements for new vehicles.
The Obama administration wants new automobiles to average 51.4 miles per gallon by 2025, which is up from 33.2 miles per gallon in 2015, the latest year available.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) moved Friday to preserve the strict fuel economy standards after announcing in November that it completed a required midterm review of Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards and decided they should not be relaxed as requested by the auto industry.
“This is midnight rulemaking at its worst,” says William Yeatman of the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
He adds that the administration came to its conclusion earlier than planned.
“It was completely unexpected when the Obama administration, on November 30th of 2016, abruptly announced that it had secretly performed this mid-term evaluation that it was proposing to keep the standards where they were,” Yeatman explains. “The agency then only allowed 30 days for automakers to comment on this hugely consequential rule, and 30 days is a drop in the bucket compared to what the agency typically offers in terms of a comment period for consequential rules.”
Yeatman adds that the EPA usually takes time considering comments, but not in this case.
“EPA is saying with a straight face that it thoughtfully considered all those comments,” he observes. “This is a real slap in the face to the American public, and it’s obvious they did this to get it out the door before Trump takes office.”
But while the Associated Press claims it will be “difficult” for Trump’s administration to undo these requirements, Yeatman disagrees.
“That’s the silly spin that is being affixed to this decision by both the administration and the environmental special interest community,” he comments. “On day one, President-elect Trump can simply have his EPA re-open a comment period, re-open the rulemaking, and reconsider it; that is perfectly legitimate, and I strongly expect that’s what they’ll do.”
Constitutional law experts agree that it will not be difficult. One source tells OneNewsNow that the administration can “simply reopen the regulations, announcing they are reconsidering the decision, give the public time to make new public comments, and then issue new regulations or revise the current ones based on the justification that what the prior administration did was arbitrary and capricious and had no basis in law or fact.”
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Copyright American Family News. Reprinted with permission.
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