Shocking Candor on Fuel Standards

Bureaucrats admit that ‘net benefits for passenger cars remain negative.’

By Michael Buschbacher and James Conde. Mr. Buschbacher is a partner at the law firm Boyden Gray PLLC and served in the Justice Department’s Environment Division (2020-21). Mr. Conde is counsel at Boyden Gray PLLC. Excerpts:

"Buried deep on page 56,342 of volume 88 of the Federal Register, the agency makes this concession about its latest proposed rules: “Net benefits for passenger cars remain negative across alternatives.” In plain English, this means that mandating ever-more-stringent fuel economy for passenger cars will harm society.

How much? The department estimates that its plan of increasing passenger-car standards by 2% each year will reduce private welfare by $5.8 billion over the life of the cars. After accounting for alleged social benefits, such as reduced climate-change damages in foreign countries, the standard reduces total public welfare by $5.1 billion."

"the Transportation Department bureaucrats have no real basis for claiming they make better choices than drivers and fleet managers. They literally are making it up."

"the department’s accompanying environmental assessment estimates that in 2060 the proposal would reduce average global temperatures by 0.000%. The modeled effect is so trivial that the bean counters ran out of decimals in their spreadsheets."