August 12, 2020 by @LookNoFurther4 https://look.substack.com/p/august-12-2020?r=fhvr&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email&utm_source=twitter

The EPA Inspector General will investigate the process used by the agency in formulating a new reg that relaxes auto fuel economy standards imposed during the Obama admin. The investigation was prompted by evidence of serious irregularities submitted to Ds on the Sen Envir Comm.

Political appointees in the Department of Transportation wrote most of the new Trump emissions regulation, shutting out career EPA staff from the rule-making process. It also shows that EPA officials withheld documents required to be published in support of the regulatory change.

The Obama fuel efficiency standards targeted by Trump were the first fed policy to lower greenhouse gas emissions. The Obama rules worked by lowering vehicle tailpipe pollution.Vehicles built under the new Trump rule will emit a billion tons more carbondioxide over their lifetime

The new Trump rule is lower than the fuel efficiency standards in the EU, China, Japan, India and South Korea, putting the US “in the back of the pack” among the world’s auto manufacturers, providing US manufacturers with an incentive to continue to produce “gas-guzzlers.”

In the weeks preceding the Trump rule, the EPA’s own analyses showed the Trump rule would create higher costs for consumers. When the WH objected to this initial data economic formulas were changed to produce the desired outcome, a tactic that violates established EPA procedures.

There was a rush to complete the new Trump rule by March 31. A later promulgation could be easily overturned in a Biden admin under the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to overturn any reg finalized w/in the last 60 legislative days of a Congressional session.

The Obama fuel efficiency standards were imposed to pressure auto manufacturers to develop electric/hybrid vehicles & improve mileage of gasoline-powered cars by using more efficient engines and lighter car bodies. The Trump rule encourages production of “gas-guzzler” heavy SUVs.

The Obama rules, promulgated in 2009 and in 2012, were hailed as “historic” by environmentalists. Presidential nominee Mitt Romney and other Republicans denounced them at the time as being too costly for consumers. The fossil fuel industry has hailed the new Trump regulation.

The new Trump rule is a pyrrhic victory for auto makers. A protracted legal challenge to the new Trump rule is virtually certainty, leaving manufacturers in limbo as they try to tool up for new model year vehicle production. #BeCarefulWhatYouAskFor

Also in today's journal:

The US has structured an agreement between a Delaware-based corporation, Delta Crescent Energy LLC, and Kurdish-led authorities in Syria to develop and export crude oil in areas under Kurdish control.

Yes, we are taking the oil -- for the Kurds.

Trump has voiced his desire to “keep the oil” produced in Syria since last year. US troops and their coalition partners currently assist Kurdish troops in providing security to oil fields in the Kurdish regions of eastern Syria.
[BAGRAM]

Current and former US defense officials have said the new arrangement is necessary to forestall Trump from initiating a further reduction in US troops in Syria. Military analysts believe a continued US troop presence in Syria is necessary to counter a resurgence in ISIS.

Aleppo

Our morning journal also highlighted the strains between Turkey and France. The vice president of Turkey, Fuat Oktay, visited Beirut, Lebanon, over the weekend and called Macron “a spoiled child.” Oktay accused Macron of conducting a “colonialist” foreign policy in the region.