https://insideclimatenews.org/news/18092019/trump-auto-standards-rollback-california-waiver-electric-vehicles-climate-change
Trump's attempted shake down of Ukraine to try to make trouble for a political rival is just what anybody should expect from his habitual behaviour and attitudes throughout his life. Eg., his actions to get revenge at states which didn't vote for him, esp. California.
Trump Strips California’s Right to Set Tougher Auto Standards
By Marianne Lavelle
Sep 20, 2019
President Donald Trump's administration on Thursday stripped California of its authority to enact the nation's toughest auto pollution standards, setting the stage for an epic legal battle that could squelch the nascent U.S. market for petroleum-free vehicles at a critical time.
The long-anticipated move, which Trump himself touted on Twitter just days before a United Nations summit on climate change, could prove to be his administration's most consequential policy retreat from efforts to rein in greenhouse gas emissions. When coupled with the administration's planned freeze on fuel-economy improvements, it will negate one of the largest steps that any nation has made to cut carbon emissions.
•••••
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/24/climate/trump-california-climate-change.html
Trump Administration Threatens to Cut U.S. Highway Funds From California
By Coral Davenport
Sept. 24, 2019
The political war between California and the Trump administration escalated Monday with a letter from Andrew Wheeler, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, warning that Washington would withhold federal highway funds from the state if it did not rapidly address a decades-long backlog of state-level pollution control plans.
The letter is the latest parry between President Trump and the liberal West Coast state that he appears to relish antagonizing. California’s recent actions on clean air and climate change policy have blindsided and enraged him, according to two people familiar with the matter.
•••••
https://thehill.com/policy/transportation/463127-trump-doj-under-fire-over-automaker-probe
Trump DOJ (Dept. of Justice) under fire over automaker probe
By Harper Neidig - 09/26/19 06:00 AM EDT
The Justice Department’s antitrust investigation into four automakers who agreed to abide by stricter emission standards being rolled out in California is reviving concerns that the Trump administration is weaponizing its competition enforcers against political rivals.
California reached the agreement with BMW, Ford, Honda and Volkswagen in July in an effort to counter the administration’s plans to ease restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions and to set the pace for other manufacturers.
•••••
But it’s not the first time Delrahim has had to answer questions about his impartiality in enforcing antitrust law. Those questions first arose after his decision to sue to block the $85 billion merger between AT&T and Time Warner in 2017, after media reports detailed President Trump’s efforts to torpedo the deal to retaliate against CNN, a Time Warner subsidiary, over what he saw as unfavorable coverage of his administration.
The issue came up again after the department approved a merger between T-Mobile and Sprint, two of the nation’s four major wireless carriers. Democratic lawmakers raised concerns about special treatment after The Washington Post reported that T-Mobile executives had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in stays at the Trump International Hotel in Washington during trips to pitch the deal to federal regulators.
•••••
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/24/politics/california-trump-epa-threat/index.html
Trump is weaponizing the EPA against California
Analysis by Zachary B. Wolf, CNN
Updated 2:50 PM ET, Tue September 24, 2019
•••••
There is undeniable irony to California trying to enact fuel economy standards because it says the federal government's inaction endangers lives, only to be accused by the administration of endangering lives for not doing enough on air quality.
In addition to California, 36 other states and the District of Columbia all have areas that fail to meet the pollution standards under the Clean Air Act. So far, only California has been threatened by Wheeler and the EPA.
It's not the only example of Trump using federal money to make a political point. In August, a whistleblower raised concerns that Trump withheld military aid from Ukraine to pressure the country's President to investigate Joe Biden.
He previously cut back federal funding for a California high-speed rail project.
Earlier this year he threatened to cut FEMA aid to California for forest fires.
His administration tried to take federal funding away from so-called sanctuary cities.
He stalled billions in disaster aid to Puerto Rico.
He engaged in the longest-ever partial shutdown of the federal government in an effort to force Congress to fund his border wall. When that didn't work, he declared a national emergency to take money from the Pentagon for that purpose.
•••••
No comments:
Post a Comment