Striking a balance between common sense and conservation, President Trump, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Transportation issued a new rule that makes two critically important changes to fuel economy standards for vehicles. First, the president stopped an Obama-era regulation that requires new vehicles to meet an unrealistic fuel efficiency target of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. In its place, the EPA’s new Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient Vehicles Rule will now require the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards to average 40.4 mpg in model years 2021-2026. Additionally, the rule reminds California that it is still in the United States — it can’t mandate its own higher standards, which would have the effect of increasing prices for consumers in every other state.
Consumers and conservationists should welcome both changes. The president understands that consumer demand and private sector innovation are the keys to economic growth, energy independence, and sustainable environmental stewardship. The new rule will help both our economic and natural environments.
Federal CAFE standards were originally designed in the 1970s during a particular market moment when it seemed like a good idea to help consumers save money on gas by forcing automakers to build more fuel-efficient vehicles. The market addressed this problem on its own in spite of, not because of, government — but the policy came at a steep cost. Today, CAFE standards increase all car prices by $3,800, according to the Heritage Foundation.
Not surprisingly, the state of California and liberal environmental alarmists are expected to fight Trump’s new rule. The alarmists, led by self-labeled socialists, the de facto thought-leaders of today’s Democratic Party, are on record wanting to use concerns about our natural environment to reshape our economic environment and impose their radical socialist agenda on everyone else. For instance, their “Green New Deal” uses the environment as a disguise to implement government-run, single-payer healthcare. However, just like their arguments for agenda items such as the “Green New Deal,” progressives’ extreme climate scare tactics about Trump’s rule should be viewed with skepticism.
Nonetheless, California’s government is working to use conservative states’ rights arguments to defend its onerous regulatory policy. California is arguing it has a “right” to set its own fuel standard, but its position is disingenuous.
To be clear: If California wants to heavily subsidize the purchase of vehicles that meet higher fuel efficiency standards, it can do so unilaterally. All the state has to do is raise taxes or redirect existing resources to a state-based program (e.g., the state can expand its current rebate program) that would meet its goal.
The problem is that California doesn’t want to pay for a California program with California resources. California wants to pay for a California program with resources from taxpayers in Kansas and every other state. If policymakers in California want to encourage people to drive a Prius, they can do so, but don’t ask people in Kansas to pay for it in the form of higher prices.
Forcing other states to subsidize your programs isn’t federalism — it’s imperialism, and it’s another example of the increasing illogical demands of modern liberalism.
Moreover, of any state, California may be least qualified to ask for special consideration from 49 other states. If states are laboratories for democracy, California is a showcase for failed progressive experiments.
Trump’s rule will no doubt trigger a public outcry as well as likely litigation from progressive alarmists and the liberal imperialists in California who want to use the state’s economic power to coerce sovereign neighbors to pay for its programs. But the president is on solid ground. He should stick to his principles and make it clear that the invisible hand of markets will do more to create economic growth and clean technology than heavy-handed regulation and sanctimonious, anti-scientific fear-mongering thinly disguised as socialism.
Rep. Ron Estes, a Republican, represents Kansas’s 4th Congressional District. He serves on the House Committee on Ways and Means.
