EPA

  • 2015 Volkswagen Jetta TDI, 2014 New York Auto Show

    If you're a diehard diesel fan, you now have one last chance to buy a brand-new Volkswagen TDI diesel car. Well, almost brand-new, anyhow: the cars in question are 2015 models, and about 11,000 of them will go on sale after they have been modified. Once they're sold, there will likely be no more new Volkswagen diesels sold in the U.S.—perhaps ever. DON'T MISS: Here's which VW TDIs can and cannot be fixed The vehicles in question come from the Beetle, Beetle Convertible, Golf hatchback, Golf SportWagen, Jetta compact sedan, and Passat mid-size sedan lineups. All of them are powered by...

  • Chrome exhaust pipe
    Automakers seek deal to delay EPA's 2022-2025 emission rules

    Despite some alarmist reporting, President Donald Trump hasn't abolished the EPA's vehicle emission limits. Nor has he wiped out corporate average fuel-economy rules, set by the NHTSA. So far, he's done two things: signed an executive order reopening the comment period for 2022-2025 EPA emission...

  • Photovoltaic solar power field at Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee
    Clean Power Plan carbon cuts may survive, even if Trump EPA kills rule

    The Clean Power Plan’s future looks uncertain at best under President Donald Trump. The commander-in-chief appears to be urging American utility companies to pivot back towards burning coal to produce electricity. Ending the so-called “war on coal” is intended to create jobs in...

  • 2015 Volkswagen Golf TDI SE
    Asking prices climb for used VW TDI diesels as buybacks proceed

    If you have your eyes on a used Volkswagen or Audi TDI turbodiesel, you may wind up having to pay more today for 2009 through 2015 models than you would have when they were new. At least right now, only 2015 model-year versions of VW and Audi vehicles sold with the 2.0-liter turbodiesel 4-cylinder...

  • 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor strapped to a dyno
    Trump budget slashes EPA emission testing, hits makers with higher fees

    The prospect of ongoing operations as usual continues to darken for the Environmental Protection Agency. According to a detailed internal budget document published in the The Washington Post, the Trump administration wants to eliminate virtually all federal funding for the agency’s vehicle...

  • The White House, Washington, D.C.  [Creative Commons license by dcjohn]
    Green groups gird for battle with White House: is it 'war'?

    Last Wednesday, a broad coalition of environmental groups sued the Trump Administration over an executive order that lifted a moratorium on issuing new leases for coal mining on federal lands. That order would have eliminated the requirement for an environmental impact study on the impacts of any...

  • Walmart store sign (via Wikimedia)

    The new U.S. president, Donald Trump, is working to eradicate every Obama policy to limit the carbon emissions that contribute to climate change. Having variously called the science behind climate change a "Chinese plot" to hurt the U.S. and referred to it using an expletive for bovine excrement, this shouldn't come as a surprise. He pledged to do that, and he is doing exactly what he said he would. DON'T MISS: Trump Administration goal: undo every climate-change effort A substantial number of U.S. corporations, however, are not following suit. Instead, they are retaining policies that commit...

  • The White House, Washington, D.C.  [Creative Commons license by dcjohn]
    Trump's climate-change order: now what happens?

    These do not appear to be the best of times for President Donald J. Trump, but his agenda of eliminating regulations and promoting fossil fuels continues to roll out. This week, Trump appeared at the EPA to sign an executive order that directed the agency to reopen and reassess its Clean Power Plan...

  • President Donald Trump (Photo courtesy DoD)
    Trump Administration goal: undo every climate-change effort

    It was clear well before November's election that candidate Donald Trump did not believe in the accepted science of climate change. He referred to it using an excremental epithet, and also claimed that it was a Chinese hoax created to hurt the U.S. Scientists around the world and the majority of...

  • California Air Resources Board chair Mary Nichols (via Twitter)
    California reaffirms state emission, electric-car rules for 2025

    The California Air Resources Board voted Friday to confirm its stricter emissions standards for 2025, setting up a potential clash with the Trump Administration. The CARB vote reaffirms a decision by the EPA in the waning days of the Obama Administration to lock in emissions standards for vehicles...

  • Big square baler harvesting wheat straw for production of cellulosic ethanol
    E15 gasoline faces stronger headwinds as more states move to ban it

    While political control in Washington has changed, the debate over a mandate to blend specific volumes of ethanol into the U.S. fuel supply has not. Since its passage in 2007 as part of the Energy Independence and Security Act, the ethanol-mandating Renewable Fuel Standard has attracted...

  • Gas pump
    Costs to meet fuel-economy standards even lower than EPA says: analysis

    The auto industry tends to oppose, viscerally and viciously, all attempts to regulate any aspect of its products or business operations for any reason. With President Trump in the White House, the industry has succeeded in getting the comment period reopened for the EPA emission standards finalized...

  • U.S. Capitol Building

    Since the election of Donald Trump, considerable attention has focused on how a candidate who campaigned on promoting fossil fuels would treat the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies charged with regulating those industries. But potential changes to the EPA do not come solely from the Executive Branch. Over the past few weeks, a bill that may give fossil-fuel producers undue influence on the EPA's Science Advisory Board has gained new momentum in Congress. DON'T MISS: Trump's EPA deletes 'science' from Science Office mission statement HR 1431—also known as the EPA...

  • President Donald Trump (Photo courtesy Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons)
    What Trump did and didn't say in Detroit on EPA emission rules

    One of the challenges of today's uber-polarized political environment is that fear and alarmism increasingly overtake the factual realities of an issue. This appears to be the case with President Donald Trump's Wednesday appearance in Detroit to announce the reopening of the comment period for EPA...

  • BMW i3 and Volkswagen e-Golf electric cars using Combined Charging System (CCS) DC fast charging
    VW's Electrify America submits electric-car charging plan to EPA, CARB: now what?

    Volkswagen has submitted a plan for electric-charging infrastructure to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board. VW's "Electrify America" plan shows how the automaker would spend funds it is required to commit to zero-emission vehicle infrastructure under the...

  • President Donald Trump (Photo courtesy Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons)
    EPA to reopen emission-rule review; how important is this step?

    Tomorrow is expected to be the day when President Donald Trump announces the EPA will reopen the comment period for the vehicle emissions standards it finalized in the waning days of the Obama Administration. The event will likely be accompanied by predictable language: Trump will be...

  • 2017 Nissan Leaf
    Five electric-car questions to worry about this year

    It seems fair to say that the new presidential administration may have increased the generalized level of worry among many Americans, not to mention the rest of the world. Among the things to worry about are the future of incentives, infrastructure, and legislation encouraging the adoption of...

  • BMW M3 M Performance exhaust
    EPA's internal watchdog to check vulnerability to emission cheating

    Even with a new leader apparently at odds with its mission, the Environmental Protection Agency continues to function on some level. On Thursday, EPA administrator Scott Pruitt said carbon dioxide released by human activity is not a major cause of climate change, directly contradicting the...

  • Bill Nye in new 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV, Jan 2017 [photo: Oskar Liners, Community Chevrolet, Burbank]

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is emerging as one of the government entities most targeted by the new Trump Administration for change. In this case, if reports of the administration's draft budget proposal are accurate, change means wholesale elimination of staff, funding, and programs. Yesterday, however, an even more remarkable fact came to light. DON'T MISS: Trump budget to slash EPA funds, ax staff, kill climate-change plans: reports For the first time in its 45-plus years of existence, the EPA Science and Technology Office no longer has the word "science" in its mission...

  • Smog obscures George Washington Bridge, 1973 [From EPA Documerica series]
    Trump budget to slash EPA funds, ax staff, kill climate-change plans: reports

    Imagine appointing a lifelong pacifist, who believes it is never justifiable to take up arms against any man, to run the U.S. armed forces. The appointment of Scott Pruitt as the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency could perhaps be viewed in a similar light. In his former...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Volt
    Which states follow California's emission and zero-emission vehicle rules?

    California leads the nation in policies that promote reductions of carbon emissions from road vehicles. It is unique in having a federal waiver that allows it to set its own, stricter emissions standards, along with a zero-emission vehicle mandate that requires automakers reaching certain sales...

  • Chrome exhaust pipe
    EPA to reopen 2022-2025 auto-emission rule decision: report

    It looks like lobbying pays off, at least in the case of EPA emission rules. According to numerous recent reports, the EPA is expected to reopen the commenting period for vehicle-emission rules it finalized in January, more than a year ahead of schedule. Automaker CEOs and the Alliance of...

  • Smog obscures George Washington Bridge, 1973 [From EPA Documerica series]
    Photos reveal how polluted the U.S. was before EPA was founded

    It can be argued that the current presidential administration appears to lack interest in the traditional mission of the Environmental Protection Agency. As a candidate, Donald Trump advocated wholesale repeal of environmental regulations and increased production of fossil fuels. He has also called...

  • FlexFuel badge on E85-capable 2009 Chevrolet HHR
    Sierra Club to sue EPA over failure to report on ethanol

    The confirmation of Scott Pruitt as Environmental Protection Agency administrator was expected to rankle environmental groups. Pruitt is a climate-science denier who, in his previous position as Oklahoma attorney general, sued the agency he is now charged with many multiple times over its efforts...

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