Enabler-in-Chief
Donald Trump has ordered the
Environmental Protection Agency to review Obama’s regulations for
automobile emissions, the CAFÉ standards (Corporate Average Fuel
Economy). Those strengthened standards were designed to push the
automobile industry to produce vehicles with much improved gas mileage
ratings that would lead to reduced fuel consumption, lower CO2
emissions, and a slowdown of global warming. Win-win, right? Good for
the consumer’s budget, good for the planet. The industry has, in fact,
made considerable strides toward the CAFÉ goals.
So what have
Americans been doing in recent years to take advantage of the
dramatically lower price of gas and less thirsty cars? We’ve shifted
our buying power toward bigger ones with worse gas mileage, particularly
fashionable SUVs; the market for smaller, fuel efficient cars has taken
a beating. Oh when we will ever learn? Do we really expect these
glory days of low gas prices to last forever? We can imagine someone
with a big SUV filling up three years from now, desperately watching the
pump wheels spin at $4.99/ and complaining about . . . the government,
probably—anyone but himself.
Here is an instance where the
President can show firm leadership, guiding us away from our own
destructive behaviors to embrace the long term interests of ourselves,
the nation, and the world. Instead, he seems ready to kill CAFÉ
standards. Given the chance to lead with a Tesla, Trump wants to escort
our suicidal motorcade over the cliff with his Hummer presidency.
Publishing History
NP Times 4/20
Times Herald Record 4/20
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