The Trump administration on Thursday revealed its long-anticipated plan to roll back Obama-era standards meant to cut planet-warming emissions from tailpipes and boost fuel efficiency in cars and trucks sold in the U.S. in the coming years.
This story by Tom DiChristopher originally appeared on CNBC.
At the same time, the administration confirmed it will seek to strip California of its special authority to set its own fuel economy levels for autos, escalating a legal battle with more than a dozen states. Shortly after the announcement, 19 states and Washington D.C. said they intended to sue over the revision.
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration and Environmental Protection Agency said they intend to reverse ambitious targets for fuel economy and emissions reductions, which the agencies developed under President Barack Obama. Instead of requiring automakers to steadily increase the average fuel efficiency of passenger vehicles through 2025 as previously planned, the Trump administration would freeze those levels after 2020.
That would mean the fleet of cars and light-duty trucks that automakers release each year will only have to average about 37 mpg by 2026, rather than targets near 50 mpg envisioned by the Obama administration. Those fleets would also be allowed to emit more greenhouse gases for each mile driven under the Trump plan.
To be sure, those are simple, round numbers that mask the complicated formulas behind the standards, known as Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE. But put simply, the Trump administration is trying to ease regulatory burdens for American automakers, even though the industry sought less drastic changes to the CAFE standards.