As Ford Authority recently reported, part of the new spending bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump eliminates the requirement for automakers to pay fines for not meeting increasingly-stringent Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards dating back to the 2022 model year. That same bill will nix the EV tax credit by the end of this September as well, which is expected to spur an increase in consumers looking to take advantage before it goes away. However, even more changes are seemingly on the horizon.
According to the New York Times, the Trump administration has now drafted a new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule that would rescind a declaration made back in 2009. That’s commonly referred to as the “endangerment finding,” a move that officially declared greenhouse gasses as a danger to human life. The kicker here is that this rule enables the EPA to place limits on the pollutants emitted by vehicles, along with other sources such as power plants.
As such, the new proposal would reportedly remove tailpipe emissions standards for automakers. The EPA will argue that the rule is unnecessary on the basis that climate regulations imposed on automakers cause more harm than good, as they leads to fewer choices for consumers and higher costs. The new policy isn’t yet set in stone and could be revised, but it must also be approved by the Trump administration and formally released for public comment before it’s finalized.
The EPA proposal “will be published for public notice and comment once it has completed interagency review and been signed by the Administrator,” according to Molly Vaseliou, a spokesperson for the agency, who also confirmed that the draft proposal was sent to the White House in late June. If it is finalized, the rule is expected to face its fair share of legal challenges, too.
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