California leads lawsuit against Trump fuel efficiency standards rollback

Lawsuit alleges NHTSA contravenes its congressional mandate to set fuel-economy standards at ‘maximum feasible’ .Twenty-six states, including California and New York, have filed a lawsuit against United States President Donald Trump’s administration after the US Department of Transportation lowered fuel economy standards for petrol-powered vehicles.The lawsuit, filed on Friday, challenges the Department of Transportation’s rollback of fuel economy standards to a fleet average fuel economy of 34.9 miles (56km) per gallon (3.78 litres) by model year 2031. Under the administration of former President Joe Biden, fuel economy standards were set at 50.4 miles (81km) per gallon by model year 2031.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Nigeria’s refining revolution has a monopoly problemlist 2 of 4Trump pushes Russia-Ukraine ‘energy truce’: Can it work?list 3 of 4What would a US diesel export ban mean for global fuel prices?list 4 of 4Trump says he is rolling back Biden-era US fuel economy rules for carsend of listCalifornia Attorney General Rob Bonta, who is leading the lawsuit, argued that the Trump administration improperly changed how federal regulators calculate fuel economy standards.The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) bases standards on technological improvements that could make petrol-powered vehicles more efficient. To do that, it first models the current fleet’s performance and then considers what additional actions manufacturers could take to improve their fuel economy in future model years above that.In past standards, including during the first Trump administration, NHTSA’s baseline fleet included the millions of electric vehicles that already run on US roads.Bonta said the Transportation Department change ignores the existing slate of EVs, which makes it easier to justify weaker standards for petrol-powered vehicles, and called the approach “flawed” and “dramatically distorted”.