Saturday, November 16, 2019

Surprise!! WI AG Kaul Suing EPA Over Tailpipe Question

The Californication of Wisconsin has arrived with Josh Kaul.  Aren't you proud??

California and 22 other U.S. states filed suit on Friday to challenge the Trump administration's decision to revoke California's authority to set stiff vehicle tailpipe emissions rules and require a rising number of zero emission vehicles.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, seeks to overturn the Environmental Protection Agency's decision in September to revoke portions of a waiver it granted in 2013....

...Last month, major automakers -- including General Motors, Toyota Motor Corp., and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles -- backed the Trump administration's effort to bar California from setting tailpipe standards.

Those automakers intervened on Trump's behalf in the lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court in Washington by states and environmental groups over NHTSA's determination....
Trump's move prevents California from setting the standards for every State in the union.  The cost of California standards is extremely high, and that cost is passed on to ALL US consumers.  And--of course--there is no "scientific" case for the Left Coast's goals, other than the usual UnicornSparkleFart fadoodah.  The science is linked below, along with a very practical and easy solution!!

Do not think that Trump is giving away the game here.

...The Trump administration's final requirements are expected to be released in the coming months and modestly boost fuel efficiency versus the initial proposal, with several automakers anticipating annual increases of about 1.5 percent, much less stringent than the Obama [and Cali] rules....
Obama/California want CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) of 46.7MPG by 2026; in contrast, Trump has mandated 37MPG.

What's "CAFE" mean?  It means that each automaker must produce and sell vehicles which are certified to produce XXMPG across that automaker's entire lineup of vehicles.  So, for example, GM must produce and sell cars and trucks which--taken as a whole--will result in 46.7MPG for model year 2026.

Given that most pickup trucks get around 22MPG and highly-efficient crossovers can only get around 30MPG,  an automaker will have to sell a helluvalotta 60++ MPG cars (or bicycles) to obtain a fleet average of 46.7MPG.

Anyhow, isn't it nice to know that YOU are joining California--the land of fruits, nuts, and poop-paved sidewalks--in this lawsuit??

Finally, it appears that air pollution (NOX) in Los Angeles is sui generis--that is, that LA's air quality problem has to do with the number of cars combined with the fact that the city is in a basin.  Regardless of  more-and-more stringent emissions controls, the air is just not getting cleaner there in the last couple of years.

The solution is NOT making everyone else in the USA pay for that problem.

The solution is simply to make driving in LA illegal.

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