Sean Duffy, the recently appointed U.S. Secretary of Transportation, has directed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to reconsider existing fuel economy standards. Duffy argues that the current regulations, established during the 1970s energy crisis, are counter to the administration's goals of promoting oil and biofuel. Critics warn that loosening these standards will harm consumers, increase pollution, and undermine American automakers.
FILE - Former Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., testifies before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 15, 2025, for his nomination to be Transportation Secretary.
Others disagree. “This will raise consumer’s costs at the pump, increase tailpipe pollution and jeopardize U.S. automakers’ future, and no one voted for any of it. The only beneficiaries will be oil executives and China’s auto industry, which will be happy to sell electric vehicles around the world with little U.S. competition,” said Dan Becker, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Safe Climate Transport Campaign.
The standards do not kick in immediately, but instead allow automakers time to adjust their designs and production in order to meet them. There is no requirement for automakers to produce or consumers to purchase electric vehicles. The fuel economy standards work in sync with EPA limits on carbon dioxide from vehicle tailpipes to address climate change, which Trump also rejects.
CAFE, or Corporate Average Fuel Economy, rules date back to oil shocks Americans suffered in 1974 and 1980. The first ones went into effect in 1978. They are intended to help drivers use less fuel by requiring automakers' fleets to meet average mile-per-gallon targets that initially increased with each model year, until progress stalled in the 1980s.
The standards aligned with tighter Biden-era EPA limits on pollution from passenger and commercial vehicles, and the former president’s broader support for incentivizing electric vehicle manufacturing and purchases.
Business FUEL ECONOMY STANDARDS TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT CLIMATE CHANGE AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY OIL INDUSTRY
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