Critics accuse administration of ‘cooking the books’ by claiming US would save $1.3bn from climate finding reversal
The Trump administration claims its latest move to gut climate regulations and end all greenhouse gas standards for vehicles will save Americans money. But its own analysis indicates that the new rule will push up gas prices, and that the benefits of the rollback are unlikely to outweigh the costs.
On Thursday, the president and his environmental secretary Lee Zeldin announced the finalized repeal of the endangerment finding, a legal determination which underpins virtually all federal climate regulations. He claimed the rollback would save the US $1.3tn by 2055.
Late on Thursday night, EPA published a regulatory impact analysis to back up that number. The savings will come from two places, the document says: some $1.1tn will stem from reduced vehicle prices, while another $200bn will come from slashed electric vehicle purchases and lowered spending on charging infrastructure.
But a chart within the analysis indicates that the US will through 2055 incur $1.4tn in additional costs from increased fuel purchases, vehicle repair and maintenance, insurance, traffic congestion and noise. An additional $40bn in costs will come from reduced energy security, increased refueling time and lowered “drive value”, or costs associated with operating a vehicle.
