In his first moments after being sworn in as Transportation secretary, Sean Duffy sought to reverse Biden regulations requiring passenger cars to be more efficient.
The Biden administration rule in question would require cars to be about 2 percent more fuel efficient each year.
In a memo, Duffy directed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to immediately review the rule and to propose “the rescission or replacement” of standards that deviate from Trump White House policy.
The memo does not immediately rescind the rule — instead it kicks off what could be a years-long process of overturning or revising it.
Duffy wrote that vehicle fuel economy standards like those he is targeting “diminish the strength of America’s auto industry and deny Americans the full range of affordable…vehicles they need.”
On the campaign trail, President Trump frequently bashed what he described as Biden’s “EV mandate.” That continued into the White House, where Trump signed an executive order stating that it is U.S. policy “to eliminate the ‘electric vehicle (EV) mandate.’”
However, the rule at NHTSA is considered to be more modest than the Biden one published by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which governs vehicle tailpipe pollution.
Under the EPA rule, it’s possible that just 29 percent of new cars on the market could be gas-powered by 2032.
While both are in place, the rule impacted by Duffy’s order doesn’t have much effect, but if the EPA rule were to be overturned, the Transportation Department rule could be something of a backstop for required climate benefits for passenger cars.
