Republicans in the Senate are considering a measure in President Trump’s big domestic policy bill that would essentially nullify the fuel efficiency rules for cars and light trucks that have been in place for nearly 50 years.
The provision would eliminate fines for any automaker that failed to comply with federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, which were created by Congress in 1975. Over time, those efficiency rules have gotten stricter, pushing automakers to improve the mileage of their cars and trucks and to introduce innovations like the Toyota Prius hybrid.
Environmentalists fear that without penalties to enforce compliance, automakers could freely ignore those rules, leading to expanded gasoline use, higher fuel prices and more pollution from millions of tailpipes. The measure could also slow the growth of electric vehicles, which are already facing stiff headwinds under the Trump administration.
“If polluters are told that there’s no penalty for polluting, what do you think they’re going to do?” said Daniel Becker, director of the Safe Climate Transport Campaign at the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group. “They’ll be perfectly happy to pollute more and make more gas guzzlers.”
Automakers including General Motors and Stellantis have welcomed Republican moves to relax fuel economy standards, relieving them from paying hundreds of millions of dollars in fines when they fall short. Yet experts say abolishing the penalties could be unfair to carmakers like Toyota that have invested in fuel-efficient technology. Toyota declined to comment.
Democrats unsuccessfully challenged the measure with the Senate parliamentarian, a nonpartisan official who enforces the chamber’s rules and has been ruling on what can be included in Mr. Trump’s domestic policy bill. Senate Republicans are trying to shield the legislation from a filibuster so that it can pass with a simple majority, but to do so under Senate rules, the bill must only include items that directly affect federal spending and don’t add to long-term deficits.