And it needs to be the mantra for those of who care about the environment, breathing clean air, and climate change. In this scary age of Coronavirus, all focus is almost singularly on the virus and people’s health. As the virus stays the news media and people’s all-consuming topic, this U.S. administration is moving against our environment and in favor of some car manufacturers, the oil industry, and greed.
The administration just rolled back the Obama’s administration’s goal of higher fuel efficiency and emission standards. The Los Angeles Times (31 March 2020) reported that “It is among the biggest steps the administration has taken to reverse an existing environmental policy.”
 |
| photo license: Shutterstock.com |
What the Obama administration’s rule did was to mandate that car manufacturers increase the fuel efficiency of all their new vehicles by 5% to reach an average of 54 miles per gallon by 2025. This current administration is reducing that goal to an increas of 1.5% to reach an average of 40 mpg by 2026.
The Los Angeles Times reported that “Nearly 900 million more tons of carbon dioxide are expected to be released under the new rule than under the Obama-era standards, a result of less efficient cars burning an additional 78 billion gallons of fuel.”
Other administrations have used crises to get controversial rules through in the past. They are like magicians. While our eyes are here, they slip a card out from a hidden pocket elsewhere. This particular act seems extremely insidious, while people are dying of a respiratory virus, while others who survive are gasping for breath, while health care workers are busting their butts to help people breathe, and while ventilators are in short supply…THIS act of putting more crap into the air is horrid and irresponsible.
CONSTANT VIGILANCE! More – I think – is to come. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!
-Kathleen
NOTE: If you are reading this blog using the mobile version, click on "web version" to see the full blog with all the features including "subscribe to blog by email".
Please join us and also share on your social media.
Donate here to the ongoing work of the CDCA in Nicaragua:
