Former reality TV contestant Sean Duffy. Photo by Gage Skidmore
The Department of Transportation says it is set to announce fuel economy standards that will increase gasoline prices by 76 cents per gallon and fuel use by 45%, just as the world grapples with the effects of an election war that has sent global energy prices soaring.
Update: This article was originally published on September 2 and the change is expected to be announced “soon.” It was announced on Saturday that the change will end on Monday.
Since the 1970s, the U.S. government has had several rules guiding automakers to make and sell more efficient vehicles.
The main standards, Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE), were first implemented after the Arab oil embargo of the 1970s and the resulting energy crisis. The standards require manufacturers to maintain an average level of fuel efficiency across their fleet, or else they will have to pay a penalty for every non-compliant car they sell.
Before these standards, American cars were large and gas-guzzling, with little interest in efficiency. CAFE standards and other government regulations related to efficiency and clean air, both at the state and federal levels, have made cars cleaner and more efficient over time.
The result of cleaner, more efficient vehicles is that they cost less to fuel, the dirty air they cause costs less to breathe, and makes the environment you depend on for everything good in your life more livable.
So, of course, Republicans want to put an end to all that.
The Department of Transportation is about to announce an effort to increase fuel costs
This weekend, Sean Duffy, the corrupt former reality TV contestant posing as the current head of the Department of Transportation, said this attack on Americans’ pockets “COMING ON MONDAY,” citing a statement from Trump that falsely described the changes as a rollback of an electric vehicle mandate that never existed.
These changes to fuel economy standards are no surprise: On his first day, Duffy signed a memorandum promising to raise fuel costs in the United States, rolling back standards that were estimated to save Americans $23 billion. But his intention was to point any fuel economy standard, wanting to eliminate anything that saves him money, since $23 billion wasn’t enough for him.
Over time, that intention has been refined and officially proposed as a reduction of the 2031 average fuel economy goal from 50.4 mpg to 34.5 mpg. NHTSA says that, in fact, these changes would increase fuel costs by $185 billion and carbon emissions by 5%. These numbers don’t take into account the higher health costs of increased pollution (but the White House is literally saying your life is worthless anyway).
It was then put up for public comment, and the vast majority of the 68,294 comments naturally opposed the plan to increase fuel and health costs and make the environment less habitable.
The changes could raise fuel costs by more than 45%
Doing some simple calculations, reducing fuel consumption from 50.4 mpg to 34.5 mpg would increase the average fuel needed to travel the same distance by 45%, meaning average total fuel costs will increase by 45%. at least 45% if the cars meet the new standards instead of the old ones.
Why “at least” 45%? Well, not only would this regulation mean that drivers would have to buy more gas on average, but it would also mean that gas prices would rise even more as demand increases.
One need look no further than an analysis released by the Department of Energy that says gas prices would rise 76 cents per gallon if Republican energy plans went into effect. And before anyone claims to be partisan, this report was signed by Chris Wright, the current oil CEO of the Department of Energy (who, of course, sees higher gas prices as a good thing, since it makes more money for his industry).
Trump claimed in his Saturday post that this would “lower prices,” but a report was approved by his own people recognizes that not only will prices go up, but usage will increase, so you’ll pay more per gallon and buying more gallons.
Trump also took credit for investing in American automakers, even though he has worked for end the American manufacturing renaissance led by President Biden, with Republicans actively trying to send those EV jobs to China.
All of this is happening while oil prices are already at all-time highs, driven there as the United States continues to slowly lose a war of choice that has sent energy prices skyrocketing globally (along with several other oil wars that EVs have nothing to do with).
They already stopped CAFE, why do it again?
The removal of CAFE standards is something of a formality at this point. Republicans in Congress couldn’t muster the votes to completely eliminate CAFE, so they used procedural fixes to set CAFE’s fines at $0, as part of their massive $4 trillion donation to American elites. So, effectivelyHowever, CAFE rules do not apply at the moment.
So why redouble this effort?
This is all part of the general and all-out assault on Americans’ pockets, in the form of higher energy prices, that Republicans in the Departments of Transportation, Energy, Interior, EPA and others have undertaken.
In many cases, these changes have been overturned by the courts due to the openly arbitrary and capricious regulations involved, and you can expect to see more lawsuits defending their pocketbooks from Republican attacks.
But the reason Republicans continue to attack regulations they’ve already tried to defeat is that, by attacking on multiple fronts, a future legitimate government will take longer to untangle the damage done. This means that Republican electors, the oil companies that bribed them into office, will presumably have a little more time to profit even more from their misery.
This isn’t the only way Duffy tries to make you less confident. It recently removed government guidelines related to bike lanes and other road safety measures. If local and regional governments follow the new guidelines, pedestrian and cyclist fatality rates could rise from 19% to 54%, when they are already close to an all-time high.
For no particular reason, here is the link to learn how to register to vote in your state. November is just over a month away.
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