Trump Officials Face off on Car Rule: King, Nichols Headline Auto Rule Hearing

June 20, 2019

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by Kelsey Tamborrino (Politico's Morning Energy) Top EPA and Transportation Department officials will likely face intense grilling from Democrats today at a joint hearing of two House Energy and Commerce subcommittees on the Trump administration's proposed rollback of auto emissions standards. Headlining are EPA air chief Bill Wehrum and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration head Heidi King. Another high-profile witness, California Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols, will appear on a separate, overstuffed panel that includes officials from Louisiana and Colorado, industry representatives and other experts. The rule is expected to be finalized in the coming months.

Wehrum will say the administration "aims to strike the right regulatory balance based on the most recent information that will enable more Americans to afford newer, safer vehicles," according to a prepared statement.

Nichols won't pull her punches . In her prepared testimony, she complains that both "EPA's professional staff and California's engineers were cut out of this proposal's development" and argues that the oil industry pushed for the rollback by influencing the "former oil and coal industry lobbyists and lawyers who now work in leadership at the agency."

Dept. of Investigations: E&C Democrats on Wednesday launched an investigation into whether the oil and refinery industries influenced the auto deregulatory push, Zack Colman reports. Committee leaders sent letters to Marathon Petroleum, American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, American Legislative Exchange Council, Energy4Us and Americans for Prosperity seeking documents regarding their involvement in the rule, saying the oil industry "stands to profit significantly" from the Trump administration's proposal. The probe is based in part on a December New York Times story on Marathon's lobbying efforts to weaken the Obama-era standards.

Marathon spokesman Jamal Kheiry said the company has not yet received the letter, but said, "In general terms, our industry is among the most heavily regulated in the nation, and we consider it a responsibility to provide information about our industry to those who hold positions of public trust."

Freeze frame: The Trump administration's proposed Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient rule for model years 2021-2026 would lock in 2020 standards through 2026 to provide a "time-out from further, costly increases." POLITICO Pro DataPoint's Patterson Clark breaks down the numbers here. READ MORE

HEARING ON "DRIVING IN REVERSE: THE ADMINISTRATION’S ROLLBACK OF FUEL ECONOMY AND CLEAN CAR STANDARDS" (U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce)

California and Canada Come Together to Advance Clean Transportation (NGT News)

Nearly Half U.S. Governors Stand Up To Trump On Clean Cars (Our Daily Planet)

Excerpts from U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce: The Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce and the Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change of the Committee on Energy and Commerce will hold a joint hearing on Thursday, June 20, 2019, at 10 a.m. in the John D. Dingell Room, 2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building on the Trump Administration’s efforts to roll back Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards and carbon pollution regulations from light duty cars and trucks. The hearing is entitled, "Driving in Reverse: The Administration’s Rollback of Fuel Economy and Clean Car Standards."

Key Documents

Memorandum from Chairman Pallone to the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce and the Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change

Witnesses

Panel I

The Honorable William L. Wehrum
Assistant Administrator, Office of Air and Radiation
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Testimony

Heidi King
Deputy Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
U.S. Department of Transportation

Testimony

Panel II

The Honorable Mary D. Nichols
Chair
California Air Resources Board

Testimony

David Friedman
Vice President, Advocacy
Consumer Reports

Testimony

Ramzi Y. Hermiz
President and Chief Executive Officer
Shiloh Industries, Inc.

Testimony

Josh Nassar
Legislative Director
United Auto Worker

Testimony

The Honorable Shoshana M. Lew
Executive Director
Colorado Department of Transportation

Testimony

The Honorable Jeff Landry
Attorney General
State of Louisiana

Testimony

David Schwietert
Interim Chief Executive Officer
Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers

Testimony

Nick Loris
Deputy Director of the Thomas A. Roe institute for Economic Policy Studies; Herbert and Joyce Morgan Fellow in Energy and Environmental Policy
Heritage Foundation

Testimony READ MORE

IT WASN'T ME: California Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols said (Politico's Morning Energy)

Excerpts from Politico's Morning Energy: IT WASN'T ME: California Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols said she was "stunned" Thursday by EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler's claim that Nichols misrepresented closed-door negotiations on Trump's proposed rollback of auto emissions standards and "was unable or unwilling to be a good faith negotiator," Pro's Alex Guillén reports.

Nichols said it was Wheeler who tanked the talks. She told reporters after a hearing Thursday that California had entered talks with two requirements: the state would not agree to completely freeze the standards and that EPA would not revoke the state's Clean Air Act waiver.

Automakers, California talk Plan B: Nichols also told reporters there's been an uptick in automakers coming to California independently to talk about the future. "Individual auto companies have been coming in lately on the assumption that the Trump administration is not going to move off of their proposal," she said. "People are thinking about Plan B, what happens when California does go off on our own. There's a lot happening." But Nichols cautioned it's mostly just early speculation and there's "no such thing" as Plan B.

DINGELL BELLS: Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) called for California and the Trump administration to sit down and reach a deal. "I'm really not interested in a pissing contest between California and this administration, to be perfectly blunt," she told EPA air chief Bill Wehrum and NHTSA chief Heidi King. But Dingell saved her harshest criticisms for the Trump officials. She interrupted Wehrum as he argued that EPA made an "honest and a good-faith effort."

"Even the industry doesn't believe that, Mr. Wehrum," Dingell said.

— Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) said he would like to find out who really tanked the talks. "It could be 'he said, she said' but we're not going to know that until we get focused and I hope we do that sooner rather than later," he said. READ MORE