ALEXANDRIA, VA – In welcome news today, the Trump Administration announced much-needed relief for America’s beleaguered automobile industry by moderating “green” regulations imposed by the Obama Administration.  The Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule emerges jointly from the Department of Transportation (DOT) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and follows the Administration’s similarly welcome announcement last September stopping the hyper-regulatory state of California from imposing different and more burdensome emissions constraints than the nationwide standard.  In response, the Center for Individual Freedom (CFIF) President Jeffery Mazzella issued the following statement: 

“We join other Americans in applauding the Trump Administration for this immeasurably helpful decision amid our nation’s ongoing response to the coronavirus pandemic. As CFIF has noted repeatedly, the Administration’s less-regulatory, lower-tax, pro-market approach over the preceding three years had created the healthiest economy in history entering the pandemic. Maintaining that same market-oriented approach is precisely what will allow us to best navigate the current coronavirus pandemic and recover most quickly and strongly going forward. 

“The automobile industry is no exception. In fact, it has been particularly hard-hit by the current pandemic and our societal response to it. The last thing that America’s struggling automakers or the millions of Americans employed in that sector need right now is to be burdened by federal Green New Deal-like regulation, or a complex, spaghetti bowl of contradictory regulations imposed by individual states like California. 

“It’s also important to note that the Administration isn’t eliminating fuel economy standard improvement altogether, but simply aiming for 1.5% improvements each year instead of the more draconian 5% yearly increases imposed by the Obama Administration in its destructive over-regulatory zeal.

“By removing unnecessary and burdensome regulations that only weight our nation’s auto industry down and threaten American jobs in this moment of emergency, the Trump Administration is creating the environment most conducive to its recovery.” 

CFIF is a constitutional and free market advocacy organization with over 300,000 supporters and activists nationwide. 

###