Donald Trump is set to roll back ambitious vehicle mileage standards today that were intended to tackle climate-changing fossil fuel emissions and reduce air pollution.

The rule was an initiative by President Obama to encourage auto makers to ramp up electric vehicle production and make gas and diesel vehicles more fuel-efficient.

The roll back will effect mileage standards until 2026 and quashes one of the US’s biggest efforts against climate change.

Opponents say the change appears driven by the president’s desire to undo regulatory initiatives of Mr Obama, and say even the administration has had difficulty pointing to the kind of specific, demonstrable benefits to drivers, public health and safety or the economy that normally accompany standards changes.

Seth Gladstone, media director of environmental group Food & Water Watch, told The Independent: “In the midst of an overwhelming public health crisis that specifically attacks human respiratory function, the Trump administration is seeking to roll back standards meant to improve air quality.

“This is patently absurd and downright shameful – to say nothing of the impact this decision could have on our perilous climate condition. Trump is in this presidency to enrich his corporate polluter friends. He cares nothing for the rest of us.”

An EPA spokeswoman told AP on Monday that the new rule would make vehicles more affordable and would “save lives” by increasing the safety of new vehicles.

The Trump administration says the looser mileage standards will allow consumers to keep buying the less fuel-efficient SUVs that American drivers prefer.

Opponents say it will kill several hundred more Americans a year through dirtier air, compared to the Obama standards.

Even “given the catastrophe they’re in with the coronavirus, they’re pursuing a policy that’s going to hurt public health and kill people,” said Chet France, a former 39-year veteran of the Environmental Protection Agency, where he served as a senior official over emissions and mileage standards.

“This is first time that an administration has pursued a policy that will net negative benefit for society and reduce fuel savings,” France told AP.

In Phoenix, Arizona, meanwhile, resident Columba Sainz expressed disappointment at the prospect of losing the Obama-era rule, which she had hoped would allow her preschool age children to break away from TV indoors and play outside more. Sainz reluctantly limited her daughter to a half-hour at the park daily, after the girl developed asthma, at age 3, at their home a few minutes from a freeway.

“I cried so many times,” Sainz said. “How do you tell your daughter she can’t be outside because of air pollution?”

Trump’s administration has marched on with roll backs in public health and environment regulations while the country’s attention is focused on the coronavirus outbreak.

The administration – like others before it – is facing procedural rules that will make changes adopted before the last six months of Trump’s current term tougher to throw out, even if the White House changes occupants.

The standards have split the auto industry with Ford, BMW, Honda and Volkswagen siding with California and agreeing to higher standards.

Other auto makers contend the Obama-era standards were enacted hastily and will be impossible to meet because consumers have shifted dramatically away from efficient cars to SUVs and trucks.

California and about a dozen other states say they will continue resisting the Trump mileage standards in court.

Last year, 72% of the new vehicles purchased by U.S. consumers were trucks or SUVs. It was 51% when the current standards went into effect in 2012.

The Obama administration mandated 5% annual increases in fuel economy.

Leaked versions of the Trump administration’s latest proposal show a 1.5% annual increase, backing off from its initial proposal simply to stop mandating increases in fuel efficiency after 2020.

The transportation sector is the nation’s largest source of climate-changing emissions.

The Trump administration standards are likely to cause havoc in the auto industry because due to expected legal challenges, auto makers won’t know which standards they will have to obey.

“It will be extraordinarily disruptive,” said Richard J. Pierce Jr., a law professor at the George Washington University who specialises in government regulations.

Associated Press contributed to this report

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