Trump administration rolls back auto efficiency standards
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced last week that it was cutting in half the rate of improvement required in auto fuel efficiency standards by 2031.
Under the new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, American automakers would only be required to achieve an average of 34.9 miles to the gallon in model year 2031, down from the 50.4 miles to the gallon required by the Biden Administration.
The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) blasted the change. “Driving gas prices up through an ill-conceived war and then making consumers use more of it is a brutal one-two punch,” said LCV Vice President of Federal Policy Matthew Davis. “While doing nothing to address gas prices that remain over $4 per gallon and oil and gas companies reporting over $85 billion in profits in the second quarter, the Trump administration is now making things worse for consumers by rolling back rules that help them save money by using less gas.”
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) announced October 2 that it had filed a lawsuit challenging the weakened CAFE standards in federal court in New York. “With the Iran war driving up prices at the pump, the Trump administration is doing all it can to keep us dependent on gas guzzlers,” said Atid Kimelman, an attorney for NRDC. “In fact, most automakers would not need to make any fuel-economy improvements to meet these new standards. That’s not what the law demands, so we are suing.”
Car owners pay more
NRDC’s news release pointed out that NHTSA itself acknowledges the fleet achieved an average of 35.4 miles per gallon in 2024, making the new rule a reduction in efficiency already achieved. It noted that the NHTSA also acknowledged that the new rule would force the average driver of a new car to pay $1,624 more in fuel costs over the lifetime of that vehicle, leading to billions of gallons of additional gasoline consumption.
Pay more to drive a less efficient, more polluting vehicle? It’s policy that only an oil company lobbyist could love.