Obama to Set New Vehicle Rules
Far-left agenda here we come:
President Barack Obama will announce new vehicle-emission rules [today], setting the first-ever nationwide limit on greenhouse-gas pollution from autos, people familiar with the plan said.
The move would force automakers to meet a fuel-economy standard for 2016 models of slightly less than 35.5 miles a gallon, a target Congress has said wouldn’t have to be met until 2020, according to one of the people, who asked not to be identified until the plan is made public.
The action is the “biggest single step to curb global warming” and follows the lead of California, which wants to cut emissions 30 percent by 2016, Dan Becker, director of the environmental group Safe Climate Campaign, said in an interview.
The federal plan settles the question of whether states can set their own rules for regulating tailpipe emissions, which automakers called an unworkable patchwork of rules.
“It will establish a single national standard that will provide predictability and certainty for the auto companies in meeting regulations,” Senator Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, said in a statement.
It is extremely interesting that Obama will push this through at a time when more Americans than ever before believe manmade global warming is either a myth, or at least a very weak theory. Perhaps he fears that if he does not pursue this policy now, he never will?
His timing is also ‘interesting’ for another reason: the U.S. economy is in shambles. It is suffering from the worst recession in words. Many have already lost their jobs, others will undoubtedly follow. And what does Obama do? Right, he makes it more difficult for car manufacturer to make a profit.
Aren’t you glad you elected a far-left ideologue?
“It is extremely interesting that Obama will push this through at a time when more Americans than ever before believe manmade global warming is either a myth, or at least a very weak theory.”
A democrat who isn’t constantly having a finger in the wind is like a hen with teeth – a bit unsettling to look at, obviously an affront to the harmony of the universe, but it can do things the normal version can’t.
“His timing is also ‘interesting’ for another reason: the U.S. economy is in shambles. It is suffering from the worst recession in words. Many have already lost their jobs, others will undoubtedly follow. And what does Obama do? Right, he makes it more difficult for car manufacturer to make a profit.”
OK. People who support this and people who oppose this have the same factors to consider – they just weigh them differently. The way I see it, people have complained about gas prices since before gas even existed, car manufacturers have been coddled by politicians who love them and politicians who like the environment more but also are invertebrates, mileage standards have been lagging a long time, a measure to lower mileage standards was suggested before and lobbied to limbo (with republicans in charge and the economy doing fine, why bother?) and the auto manufacturers haven’t been doing a bang-up job keeping things profitable, long-term and stable even before the recession hit. Japanese automakers are much closer to these eviliberal mileage standards and they’re not doing worse than GM and Chrysler.
So, how do the people who oppose see it?
“Aren’t you glad you elected a far-left ideologue?”
Oh, these grapes? These grapes right here? Still scrumptious.
a measure to lower mileage standards was suggested before and lobbied to limbo (with republicans in charge and the economy doing fine, why bother?)
Actually it was passed in December 2007 and signed into law by Bush. The Obama plan accelerates the target timetable by four years. Did you bother to read the article?
The weight reductions needed to achieve the fleet mpg goals will result in a few thousand extra traffic fatalities per year. The laws of physics are not subject to Congressional whim, nor is the pace of technological breakthroughs particularly amenable thereto either.
“The weight reductions needed to achieve the fleet mpg goals will result in a few thousand extra traffic fatalities per year.”
A 2 % increase is a reasonable estimate. I guess this has to be weighed against the benefits of not having to depend on nations that are hostile to or at an angle with US interests and values, while leading to other benefits as well. If one excludes the long-term thinking regarding the potentially disastrous effects of not lowering CO2 output, there is no direct reason for lowering emission and mileage standards, and there is no clear reason to let them remain as they are – it’s a matter of toggling for a level where the benefits are as high as they can be and the negative effects are brought low.
Research on the effects of the previous CAFE standards have shown that the fuel “savings” are lost back to increased driving (when it costs less to drive, people drive more–result is not less duel consumed but more miles driven) with a net result of no lower overall national fuel consumption. Real life example: The 1974 CAFE reductions led to roughly 2500-3000 extra traffic deaths per year with no overall reduction in national fuel consumption. And by the government’s own estimates, the CO2 reductions will be trivial at best. Passenger vehicles are only a minor part of CO2 emissions.
The NTHSA’s own estimates of the 2007 Bush admin rules proposals showed them hitting max social benefits versus social cost–a neat balance, even if you consider the estimation of benefits to be flawed. Using those same estimations, the Obama tweaks go well beyond the benefit max-out into negative net social benefit territory. We will pay in money and lives to appease special interests. Also, previous economic scoring of assorted plans indicates that the Obama-tweaked version will cost roughly 150,000 American jobs in base employment erosion.