Pruitt Asked to Reverse Obama Administration Decision on Vehicle Emissions Standards

Bainwol,Mitch

In his first days on the job, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has been hit with a request from automakers to reverse the decision by the Obama administration to lock in vehicle emissions standards through the next 8 years.

Making the request was the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. The group wants Pruitt to reopen an official review of fuel economy rules.  It was late in the days of the Obama administration when the rules were rushed through in late January 2017 even though the EPA had until April 2018 to decide whether to increase, loosen or maintain the standards. The Alliance, led by President and CEO Mitch Bainwol contends it was a move to cement the climate legacy of President Obama.

He called the decision “riddled with indefensible assumptions, inadequate analysis and a failure to engage with contrary evidence.” Bainwol also said the new standards were “the product of egregious procedural and substantive defects.”

His letter to Pruitt was similar to one sent by automaker CEOs to President Trump, asking him to either ease the rules or eliminate them.