Argh -- this is rather suckadelic to me, and I don't really get how this can be seen as other than corporate influence on the Admin. Look, i'm a realist, not a doomsayer nor Pollyanna-ish about the Admin, and i knew we'd definitely get a mixed bag when they took over, but i'm a citizen, and not part of this govt, so i say it as i see it, praising good decisions as they've come through and being straight about things that at least at first glance appear to suck from smalltime to bigtime, as they come through, as well (as, of course, Barack has requested of us to do).
And this appears to be one of the latter.
Continued..
I saw this first in a press release from the CBD, of today, with opening salvo:
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today the administration of President Barack Obama issued corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards for cars, trucks, and SUVs for model year 2011 that are significantly lower than the standards proposed by the Bush administration last year. The regulatory decision issued today requires that passenger cars achieve only 30.2 mpg and that SUVs and pick-up trucks achieve only 24.1 mpg in 2011. Both these numbers are lower than the Bush proposal of 31.2 mpg for passenger cars and 25 mpg for SUVs and light trucks, and would result in many millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions more than the Bush proposal.
"Obama promised change, but unfortunately this is change in the wrong direction," said Kassie Siegel, director of the Climate Law Institute at the Center for Biological Diversity. "It’s unfathomable that Obama would issue regulations worse than Bush, but that is exactly what he has done."
Though I haven't seen any other diaries on this in a quick search, a quick websearch turned up an LA Times article which expresses a mixed opinion on the ruling, admitting that the announced standard is a full 0.5 mpg lower than what Bush and co. had proposed, but implying that it's a step towards letting CA decide its own fuel standards -- which the car companies hate. I can't make totally clear sense of this, maybe others who are more expert in this can enlighten me in the comments, but I was NOT happy to initially see the CBD press release, anyway..