Environmentalists Target Ford Over Mpg Rules. According to The Detroit News, “Four environmental groups are targeting Ford Motor Co. in their campaign to prevent the easing of stringent gas mileage rules under review by President Donald Trump’s administration. In full-page ads running Saturday in The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press, the groups — the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, Safe Climate Campaign and Public Citizen — accuse Ford of working behind the scenes in Washington to convince the Trump administration to roll back the mileage rules, which would require automakers to produce fleets that average over 50 miles per gallon. The automaker denies it is trying to convince the White House to do any such thing. The ad’s headline, which is superimposed over a photo of a tailpipe spewing exhaust and a blue oval with a stylized script reading ‘Trump,’ reads: ‘Too bad Ford Motor Company’s motto of ‘Go Further,’ doesn’t apply to our nation’s gas tanks.’ It goes on to say: ‘Today, Ford Motor Company celebrates 115 years in business by encouraging Trump to roll back the clean car standards.’ Ford pushed back against the ad in a statement to The Detroit News. ‘As we have previously said, we continue to support increasing clean car standards through 2025 and are not asking for a rollback,’ the carmaker said. ‘Importantly, we want one set of standards nationally, along with additional flexibility to help us provide more affordable options for our customers. We will continue to urge EPA, NHTSA and California to work together and deliver on this standard.’” [The Detroit News, 6/15/18 (=)]

 

Amid Looming Rollback, EPA Floats Vehicle GHG Credit 'Amendments'. According to Inside EPA, “Even as the Trump administration is poised to unveil its proposed rule for rolling back Obama-era light-duty vehicle greenhouse gas and fuel economy standards, EPA is advancing a new draft plan that could give automakers more generous compliance credits for advanced vehicles and other technologies. The draft plan -- billed as ‘technical amendments’ to EPA’s GHG standards -- could ease industry’s ability to comply with the standards by providing more generous credits. It also comes as the administration in its broader rollback of GHG and fuel economy standards appears to be rejecting industry calls to formally consider a regulatory scenario that would focus on easing industry’s compliance ‘flexibility’ rather than weakening the standards themselves. The administration’s ‘preferred’ regulatory approach in its broader rollback plan would freeze the program at model year 2020 stringency levels through MY26. It would also push back against efforts by California and other states to retain the current program, relying on a legal claim that the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) -- which authorizes the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) fuel economy rules -- preempts states from implementing GHG rules that are essentially equivalent to fuel economy limits. A host of industry officials have urged the administration to seek comment on an ‘advanced technologies flexibility option’ that would recognize California’s ‘critical role’ in limiting emissions and possibly prevent years of litigation over the program.” [Inside EPA, 6/15/18 (=)]