EPA Drops Mention of 'Climate Change' in Auto-Emissions Reversal

(Bloomberg) -- The phrase "climate change" is nowhere to be found in the 38-page document outlining the Environmental Protection Agency's finding that auto efficiency standards enacted by the Obama administration to fight climate change are too aggressive.

The standards were the agency's first major effort to slash greenhouse-gas emissions after it determined the gases presented a hazard to public health.

Indeed, former EPA chief Gina McCarthy called climate change "the primary policy driver" of the auto rules and devoted 10 pages to climate science when she proposed in November 2016 that the standards through 2025 were feasible and should remain in place.

The revised final determination, released Monday by current EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, reversed that decision. It doesn't mention climate change or public health.

Among the reasons cited in the new document were auto industry comments that the costs of meeting the carbon targets could price some consumers out of the market, thus keeping older, less-efficient cars on the road for longer, undermining the goals of the rules.

The EPA isn't the first agency to scrub climate from its policy documents. In March, the Federal Emergency Management Agency released its latest four-year strategic plan; unlike the previous one, it didn't mention climate change, global warming or extreme weather -- the very factors scientists say are driving up disaster costs.

Noting the omission of "any mention of climate change or its impacts," the Union of Concerned Scientists called the EPA determination "basically a regurgitation" of talking points made by auto-industry trade associations.

"No other federal policy is delivering greater global warming emissions reductions than these vehicle standards," the environmental advocacy group said in an analysis. "If the EPA completely rolls back the regulations, as some have signaled, that will mean an additional half billion tons of global warming emissions just from the vehicles sold between 2022-2025."

--With assistance from Christopher Flavelle

To contact the reporter on this story: Ryan Beene in Washington at rbeene@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jon Morgan at jmorgan97@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth Wasserman

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