Leaving no stone unturned in their efforts to dismantle regulations, House Republicans, led by Darrell Issa (R-CA) are now investigating whether "secret negotiations" led to the new, higher fuel economy standards for cars and trucks.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, chaired by Issa, is meeting with administration officials today to "explore the rulemaking process used by the Administration and stakeholders in compiling this framework."
In July, President Obama announced historic new fuel efficiency standards for cars and light trucks – by model year 2025, the average car and light truck will get 54.5 miles per gallon. When he announced the agreement, he was joined by automakers Ford, GM, Chrysler, BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar/Land Rover, Kia, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Toyota and Volvo, all of whom agreed to abide by it.
Issa sent a letter to EPA administrator Lisa Jackson on September 30 saying the Agency’s proposed regulations "set in motion a series of events which have led inexorably to the expansion of power exercised by EPA. Not only has this expansion occurred without the express consent of Congress, but it also appears that EPA has successfully avoided scrutiny of its actions by the Judicial branch of government as well."
Issa also charges the Administration may have offered taxpayer-funded bailouts to the domestic auto industry in return for its promise to support the new fuel standards, and that vehicle safety may have been compromised in a rush to enact new regulations. He also says the standards will increase car prices and lead to a loss of jobs.
Cooler heads estimate the new fuel economy standards will create as many as 150,000 new jobs, while literally doubling fuel efficiency from current levels and reducing carbon emissions by almost 50%.
American families will save $1.7 trillion dollars in fuel costs, and by 2025 will result in average fuel savings of over $8,000 per vehicle. The US will consume 12 billion fewer barrels of oil, and by 2025 reduce oil consumption by 2.2 million barrels a day – as much as half of the oil we import from OPEC every day.
The standards cut carbon pollution by over 6 billion metric tons over the life of the program – more than the amount of carbon the entire US emitted last year.
Not content to restrict his campaign to the administration, Issa is also going after his own state of California’s ground-breaking vehicle emissions standards, which, he says, may have had an outsized influence on crafting federal regulations.
"When you granted the state of California a waiver to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles, you set in motion a series of events which have led inexorably to the expansion of power exercised by EPA," Issa wrote in his letter to Jackson.
The Clean Air Act allows California to set anti-pollution standards that are stricter than federal rules. In response to Issa’s attacks, Senator Barbara Boxer of California says, "It is a really sad day in America when a powerful congressman tries to stop us from becoming energy independent and free from the brutal dictators that have their hands on our oil supply."
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